Nanner and Ursea were in the middle of hugging Oz's group. They had finally reunited with each other after searching for almost an hour. As they chatted, a message from the system appeared before each of them. What was in the message shocked all of them.
Everyone cried out in horror. How could Essence die so quickly? Sure he was only a level five and the amount of Creativity stored in his Core wasn't very high, but just by going with ability, he could be ranked in the top ten. The group mourned for the loss of one of their own.
"No, we can't just stay here. We need to win." Nanner resolutely urged the others to continue.
Raven plopped onto the floor and wailed. "What's the use? We're all gonna die and for real too!"
"No we're not!"
"W-What do you mean we're not?"
"Don't you know? Don't you remember that guy and his unique ability?"
"Who?"
Oz perked up as if she remembered something. "You mean Zero?"
"Exactly!"
"Ah!" Raven suddenly realized what was so special about Zero. "I see. We need to hurry then. Let's quickly find the others. Oz, do you think you can do that thing you did earlier?"
"I'll see what I can do." Oz replied as she began to release her Creativity.
With a few unintelligible words, she activated the move she used earlier. Like last time, she stood there motionless while her Creativity left her body. And like last time, the Creativity came back in a matter of seconds.
Oz looked back at the group and smiled. "Found them."
..........
On the rooftops of a tower....
SYSTEM: ESSENCE HAS DIED! THERE ARE 13 PARTICIPANTS LEFT!
"Oh? One has already died. At this rate, I won't even need to reveal myself." A large, armored man chuckled. This man was Suze...or the Madness Suzerain.
The Madness Suzerain waved his hand before him, scattering a mixture of his blood and ink. Wherever the mixture landed on the ground, an Eraser appeared. In under a minute, over a hundred Erasers were created. The Madness Suzerain smiled in contentment as he gazed at his army.
"Go! Kill all enemies on sight!"
The large man walked over to the edge of the roof and gazed into the horizon. "I've promised to hold these nuisances back for five hours. In five hours of time, my Left Hand and Right Hand should have already completely taken over the PWA community base."
The Madness Suzerain sighed and murmured. "I should make an appearance soon. I still don't have a good feeling about leaving my subordinates behind. Something's bad is bound to happen."
..........
Outside of the RP, in the real world.....
"Is everyone in position?" Rose texted the leaders of each group.
Zero replied with a quick text, detailing the situation at his end. "It's a good thing you made me acting-leader. The Archives needed leader-access to open. We're currently stocking up with as many old RPs as we can."
However, Sylveon did not return a text. Rose felt that something was wrong and asked Zero to check up on her. The young leader glanced at the security TV in front of her, watching over the movements of the intruders. As she scrolled through the video tapes, she suddenly stopped. Her hand wavered as she gasped in shock.
She recognized one of the intruders. But that shouldn't be right. That person had died many years ago. But then again, they were never able to find his body. If that person was truly alive and had joined the enemy, then the fighters of the first wave she sent out to meet the enemy would be in grave danger!
Rose called out to everyone and issued a change in plans. "First wave! Hold back! Everyone, meet up with them and attack together!"
Rose's group of ten rushed towards the enemy, their abilities activated beforehand. Upon seeing each other, the two groups collided. While her friends fought with the Erasers, Rose charged ahead to meet up with the enemy leader...to meet up with that person.
"So, it really is you!" Rose exclaimed upon seeing that person, her heart stung with a hint of sorrow and disappointment.
The scholarly person smiled at the young leader as he sized her up. "Well, if it isn't little Rose! My, you have grown."
"Why? Why are you doing this? What incentives did that tyrant give you?"
"Where are little Eden, little Kirstie, and little Nanner? How are they now? I don't see them...could it be, they're in the RP?"
"Answer me Professor! Why?!"
"And here I thought little Kirstie was the emotional one."
"Professor!"
"Fine, fine. You see...I was never part of the Writers. I was...a spy...a double agent. I was sent to gather intelligence on the Writers. My real identity is Lord Tactician - the Left Hand of the Madness Suzerain."
"You! You traitor to humankind! All those years you lived with the Writers and their communities...don't you feel any compassion and empathy?"
"No. Why should I feel compassion and empathy towards inferior beings? Do you feel compassion and empathy towards those ants on the sidewalks?"
"You bastard! Then, why did you introduce Writing to us? Why did you awaken our Creativity?"
"Haha, at that time, I was interested in a little experiment of mine. Do you recall what fuels Creativity? Imagination. Just a little bit of Imagination can produce a lot of Creativity and awaken those powerful and unique abilities you Writers have. So, think about what a lot of Imagination could do.
When I awakened your Creativity, I had hoped for you to continue practicing and expanding your Imagination. But, like all other Writers, once you began producing Creativity, you seemed to have strayed from the path of Imagination."
"What are you trying to say?"
"What I'm trying to say is that you...you failures could not meet up with my expectations. Can't believe I actually placed my hopes on you inferior beings."
"You damned fucker! Die!" Rose exploded with anger of feeling betrayed and activated her special ability. "Activate! Green Hands!"
As Creativity flowed out from within her and wrapped around her hands, Rose aimed one hand at her former teacher and another at the ground. Her hands began to turn green and leafy. Her ability 'Green Hands' was an upgraded version of 'Green Thumb' and what it could do was grant Rose the ability to control plant life.
As she willed it, the ground began to shake and a burst of gnarly vines shot forth from beneath. The vines expanded towards the scholarly man and wrapped around his body.
However, the former Professor flashed his eyes and grunted. "Activate! Mimicry! Flames of Frostnight!"
The Lord Tactician had a special ability. It was known as 'Mimicry', which allowed him to copy the abilities of every Writer he had personally killed. 'Flames of Frostnight' was one such ability. The scholar had taken this ability from his best friend and the first Writer he had killed.
Icy flames burst out from within him and burned away the vines that enveloped his entire body. Rose gasped as she stepped back. "How...isn't your ability 'Encyclopedia'? Why do you have 'Flames of Frostnight'?"
"Haha, it is one of my abilities along with 'Flames of Frostnight'. However, my true ability is 'Mimicry' which allows me to copy any ability from those that I killed."
"You monster! Take this! Thorn Golem!"
A golem made from leaves and thorny branches emerged from behind Rose. As Rose pointed towards the Lord Tactician, the golem lumbered over and started attacking. The scholar smirked at the futile attempt and began casting fireballs upon fireballs until the golem disintegrated into ash and dust.
The two continued their fight. Rose unleashing almost all of her repertoire while the Lord Tactician fended off each attack without breaking a sweat.
The two groups kept fighting with casualties on both sides. Some of the weaker levels had either been killed or erased while on the enemy side, a number of Erasers were decimated. However, it seemed like the Writers' side was losing.
