ArkKitty

Huhuhu, Sorry for the late update. It appears a train called 'Responsibilities' hit me hard and its cargo 'Being an Adult' hits harder. T^T

• 3^rd Person POV

Chatters, mumbles, and conversations from multiple voices echoed throughout an oval amphitheatre. There are many people seated on the ascending benches that have direct view to the middle of this structure. A circular raised platform lies in the centre of this place, the situation here is eager as if waiting for something to happen.

Until one of the people there noticed a section of the platform detaches and went downwards. He pointed forward and exclaimed.

“YEAH!! ITS STARTING!!”

Accompanied by that statement, the entire crowd goes quiet until the platform section returns with a figure standing on it. The figure is human male wearing a sleek black jacket on top of his white buttoned up shirt. His black pants is tight fitting giving this figure a formal appearance of a man in his tuxedo. His face is obscured by a masquerade mask with frills adorning its edges.

He also wears a magician’s top hat equipped with a small cane beside him. In closer look, on the chest part of his jacket it is embroidered with the word ‘Eidolon’

This is the formal uniform of hosts paid by Eidolon as the male figure tap the cane to the stone platform. It echoed through the entire amphitheatre catching everyone’s attention as he begun to speak.

“ARE YOU GUYS READY?!?”

His voice resonated the entire crowd and with that they replied in the same manner.

“YEAHHH!!!”

The crowd wore many things such as armours and robes carrying their respective weapons although it is sheathed on their backs, indicating that they aren’t fighting or participating in the event.

There’s even other players that have small cameras beside them to record the battle with one working for ‘EidoNews’ to broadcast the event live for anyone who cannot enter the arena due to its limited ticket.

After hearing that reply, the well-dressed man bowed to the crowd in a flashy manner before snapping his fingers. The sound made from it, is amplified making it able to be heard by all of the crowd as the raised platform begun to glow. He moved to the side to the table & chair already set up for him to comment.

Upon sitting, he arranged the mic to come close to his mouth and begun to speak.

“I am Dyne, your host for Section C. I am sure Section D was exciting, but I can guarantee you guys, this one would be more than you expect”

He smirks as the glow fades, accompanied by gasps of awe from the crowd. The raised platform projected a massive 3D imagery of sand dunes, crumbled ruins, rooftops, and monoliths adorned the area making it surreal as if they are looking at an ancient lost civilization in the deserts.

--

Magie Magia got the notification from his phone regarding the upcoming event as he hurriedly takes care of himself then come into the console. He had undergone many scenarios in his head about the battle and what he’s going to do.

Upon entering the city of Clamshore, he immediately went to the plaza as he can see players surrounding him. They are the participants of the event just like him, they are instructed to wait on the plaza.

Several already begun chattering with one another but most prefer to keep themselves quiet knowing that they will be enemies in the battle royale event. Magie Magia just keep a look out assessing other players.

“They are fearsome”

He can see several toughed out looking players kitted out with intimidating looking armours. There are also magic casters who is confident in their skills as hovering books seem to circulate around them. Until he landed his gaze on a figure

“Hehe…”

He chuckles a little bit, one player is wearing bunny girl outfit with their oversized built almost stretching the outfit and breaking it. Before he can enjoy the moment though, a prompt appeared before all players.

It happens so quick as it appeared. Magie Magia’s world instantly changed from the salty sea breeze he’s accustomed to, the soft music that NPCs occasionally made while travelling through the canals in their little boats.

Surrounding him is light brown dunes and scorching blazing sun sitting atop him. Moving his head around, in his vision he can see several leaning monoliths half-buried by the sands some ruined structure also juts out from the sand as he begun to realize the situation, he’s in.

“I’m in an open area”

He will be a sitting duck for archers or long-range magic casters to snipe him if he stays on the field for too long. Quickly, he put his hand atop of his chest as he casted a spell. His figure vanishes from sight but he’s still in that area as he weave a spell enveloping his legs.

Magie Magia hurriedly ran from the field hiding behind the monoliths or crumbled ruins even if he’s already invisible he cannot know if there’s other players that can see through, so he’s better be safe and sorry using obstacles to prevent direct view of him.

Due to another spell he cast [Silent Steps] that he had modified, his movement is silenced in addition he doesn’t leave any trails on the grounds rendering him incredibly hard to get caught.

*BOOM*

An explosion of sand can be seen from far away, as Magie Magia grew curious. He quickly glances at his MP bar indicating that its regenerated enough to cast another spell without worrying him. To make sure he’s able to cast teleportation spell when things go awry.

He casted a spell as a veil of mana enveloped his eyes mimicking glasses as he casted a divination spell [Far Seeing] which allows him to see beyond what normal player eyes’ range could see. Similar to [Invisibility] [Silent Steps] These spells are buffing type which means he doesn’t need to maintain them.

In there he sees two figures, assuming from their choice of attire. They are close ranged attackers fighting against one another.

The female player is wearing heavily blackened plated armour carrying an incredibly large great-sword which baffles Magie Magia on the STR status requirement to wield it. It is clear the player that controls that character is inspired by ‘Berserk’ and tries to imitate the character there.

“I must say, that is a spot-on cosplay”

Magie Magia’s commented while hiding behind a broken-down wall swallowed by the sands as he continues to watch. Momentarily forgetting his personal goal.

She appeared to be fighting a male figure that wore ruffle tops and sleek brown pants. On top of his head is a feathered hat resembling a travelling wanderer. He carries on his right hand a thin rapier  parrying the constant onslaught of the great-sword from the female berserk.

They are locked in intense battle and appeared to be ignoring anything else as Magie Magia nods to himself remembering his goal to find or create a ‘safe place’ for him somewhere before he can start participating fully to the event.

He quickly left the two figures fight against one another. While walking in quickened manner, thoughts began to intrude his mind.

“Section C (Level 25-50), since I’m Level 40. I need to be wary of level 50s as they can automatically see me through the spell due to level difference”

Each time he moves, he tried to pass behind walls or obstacles that hide his small body from view even if he’s invisible due to the spell.

--

After a while, cautiously evading any clashes between players that he occasionally saw in his walks. He encountered a place that’s far away from any entities as he used the divination spells [Far Seeing] and [Awareness]

“Good… I didn’t ‘detect’ or ‘see’ anyone’s here”

He arrived at a place where there are numerous crumbled ruins in varying sizes & shapes. But one thing that caught his attention. Among the ruins, there is an intact structure partially buried by the sands.

It resembled a pyramid’s top with a gate towards the inside of the structure. Since his spell’s effects still in duration. Magie Magia look deeper and finds out that there’s no one considered as ‘Entity’ here in the pyramid.

Confirming that, he pulled out something from his sleeves. It is a circular wooden stamp that have been modified with several dials & sub-dials. He stopped for a second as he stamps a piece of a ruin that’s on the outskirts of the main structure using that item.

A faint magical circle appeared on the surface of that fallen wall before fading away. With that, Magie checks his MP bar and confirmed it.

“Yeah… its relative to what kind of ‘magic circle’ I’m thinking of using”

The circle that he etched on that surface using the item isn’t taking too much MP. Finishing it, he then summons a mana core.

Appeared out of thin air adjacent to him, an octahedron emerges and slowly spinning by itself. Accompanied by that, a panel appeared beside his field of view showing what the mana core is viewing.

Magie rotated the mana core away from him to watch behind him as he commanded it to [Warp]. In doing so, the crystal vanish and reappears thirty meters above him.

The mage sends several spheres of light into the structure brightening the interior as he can see several sarcophagus in different states. Some have already been opened with the lid fell to the ground and in several pieces.

Being cautious as usual, Magie casted a spell by tapping the ground with his feet. Upon touching it, he emits a faint glowing pulse that encompasses the entire structure including its nook & cranny.

“The spell [Search], Quite handy in narrow spaces like this.”

Magie got the information of this structure’s layout from the spell, including any containers that can be interacted with. It makes him wonder why divination spell isn’t popular among players if they are this handy.

Knowing the layout beforehand, Magie enters a secluded corner of the structure not without etching several magic circles on the ground or the interactable sarcophagus. While toggled on [Mana Gathering] skill.

Upon finishing the etches, he toggled that skill off knowing it is dangerous to keep that on for some time since it doubles any incoming damage taken.

“Summon Umbra”

Saying that command, Magie’s shadow that comes from the spheres of light changed its form and emerge from it. Is a large wolf-dog with dark blue fur & white undertone. He looked up and sniffs the air checking if there’s any enemies in his range.

“Woof”

He replied to his owner earning a secondary confirmation that no one’s here beside himself. With that, Magie mischievously smile.

“Shall we begin?”

Magie looked at Umbra and the dog replies with a keen puppy bark. Garnering a head pat from the mage as he begin something.

--

*CLANG *CLANG *CLANG

The sounds of blades clashing with another accompanied by roughened grunts shows two figures fighting against one another in melee.

Their movement is incredibly fast making it hard to see in normal eyes but avatars in ‘Eidolon’ have enhanced perception allowing them to see it clearly

The attacking figure is a woman in her early thirties with long & straight raven hair that glistened from the scorching sun of Section C area. She adorned herself with thick plated ebony coloured armour and in her hand, she perform an overhead slash with a large great-sword.

The woman is a famous player in ‘Eidolon’ for continuously change her class to fit what she’s cosplaying. Her in-game name ‘Fantasia’ is indeed true to that name since she continued changing her looks & abilities by collecting different armour to complement her current playstyle.

In ‘Eidolon’ EXPs are something that’s easy to gain due to the amount of monsters & dungeon provided in the world. Allowing players to level up faster, changing their class, and built while keeping their skills. In return, it is also easy to lose EXPs as there are NPCs that offer services to alter their character by using them. Due to this, she’s renowned for constantly using the NPC services almost hogging their cooldown period.

The defending one against her attacks is a man in his late twenties, grinning ear to ear while fighting. His rapier although thin-like is capable of parrying Fantasia’s [Dragon’s Fang] & covered by rose briars further proving that his weapon is the same category or maybe higher.

*CLANG*

“Well! Can’t believe I’ve met the famous Fantasia here. Mwah~”

“You pervert!”

She lashes against his joking tone and it irks Fantasia as her figure is enveloped by faint black aura. Her long raven hair hovers in the air as if underwater indicating she’s using a skill.

The sounds of metal clashing against another metal echoed through the dunes as these two figures battle with increasing speed.

“Eh! Chill Mommy!!!”

The troubadour like man getting a bit overwhelmed from the fight as he continue to parry her barrage of slashes.

“Welp, I can’t hold my [Parry] skill for too long, its ending. AH!! There it is”

His rapier enveloped by rose briars begun to glow as the flower blooms. Rose petals begun to fall from the sword as he thrust forward. Piercing her body dealing some damage but she didn’t bear any reaction instead continue to give onslaught to the troubadour.

Fantasia is completely in character & angered by the earlier provocation from the male, preferring not to speak to give the intimidating aura but it is ineffective against the troubadour.

The troubadour is a famous player aptly named Oji-san that usually stream his game. Obviously, he’s streaming live of his participation in the event. Multitude of live chats can be seen on his peripheral saying.

“Ouh!!! Look at that hot cake” - Bonkers

“Mommy~~~ me love” – RandomGuy

“Kick her butt!” – FightinJunkie

“Jeez, you guys.”

Oji-san sighed but still smiles while holding his weapon tightly. His rapier [Rosé], is a powerful weapon in legendary category. Apart from its innate high physical defence penetration. It also have other effects such as damage over time [Bleeding] status effect. But of course more than that.

Soon after, the falling rose petals begun to come out from Oji-san foot as his movement getting faster and faster. That weapon have a mechanic to activate, he needed to counter several attacks to fill up ‘charge’ on [Rosé]. Thankfully, since Fantasia in berserk mode it gives a lot of opportunities for Oji-san to quickly filled up the ‘charge’ counter on [Rosé]

Due to his movement speed, Oji-san dashed backward giving a wide berth to the raging Fantasia as she performed a heavy overhead slash splashing incredible amount of sand to the sky and sides.

“Whoa… whoa… whoa…. I’ll die in one hit from that”

Oji-san commented avoided the slash as he charged up holding the rapier pointed forward to Fantasia. In split second, he blinked leaving only rose petals floating in the air.

Immediately, he reappears right in front of Fantasia catching her off-guard as he quickly gave three jabs. Each took some amount of damage to her but there’s a down-side between Oji-san and Fantasia.

Rapier weapon type have innate lower ATK status compared to other weapons, but it is accompanied by its high defence penetration. Allowing players to crack high defence resistance monsters using the weapon.

The problem lies in Fantasia’s build, she’s using berserk aura increasing her health points and removing her own defence resistance. Effectively renders the rapier reliance on penetration redundant.

Sweat came out from the forehead of Oji-san as he scuffs knowing the weakness & the flow of the battle. But he can’t ignore his viewers who wanted to see the outcome of the battle resulting the current fight.

“Thankfully, this baby have [Bleeding]”

He refers to the rapier in his hand. The [Bleeding] effect is triggered whenever he manages to injure a creature and during its fully ‘charged’ state.

For as long as he is able to constitutively apply the bleeding effect. It would surely consume Fantasia health’s bit by bit until he won. Now that three stacks have been applied, he needed more stacks and avoid the berserker attacks.

After a while, focusing on the battle ignoring the continuous flow of chats in his peripheral vision to avoid any of her attacks. Oji-san felt like its going to be his win until something changed. Fantasia for the first time beside her eyes engulfed in red colour smirks. Her black aura changed to red as she activated another skill.

“OY! OY! I didn’t know she had that!!!”

Oji-san widened his eyes as beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. Due to her constant change in builds many grew confused in predicting what she would do next.

*BAM*

Upon being hit her great-sword slash, Fantasia is covered in faint green glow indicating her HP is being healed. Due to that Aura, his bleed has been countered and now Oji-san’s HP is being chipped even with his [Parry] skill & Fantasia healed herself.

What they did not notice during this intense battle, is the sky begun to darkened. The scorching blazing sun that always on top of this area is slowly being engulfed by grey clouds.