-Renz pov-

 

"Are they seriously going to fight?"

 

"Is Jarde really going to fight a level 65?"

"That girl is an officer though."

 

"But she looks like a total newbie. Her set is from the earlier levels of the game too."

 

"Oh sheyyt, Jarde's gon' butcher that poor lassie..."

 

"I heard that whoever loses the battle will quit the guild!"

 

"Wow, that's some high stakes there right off the bat. The girl just joined and now she's gonna be forced to quit?"

 

"Yeah, too bad, I really wanted to play with her."

 

Murmurs of guild members filled the large hall while I kicked myself mentally for my inability to stop this from happening.

 

I'm on top of an elevated balcony overlooking the whole square guild training hall downstairs where Novo and Jarde are. Surrounding the square hall are guild members also on the same balcony surrounding the entire room who are all eager to watch a battle between guild members. Downstairs are Novo and Jarde preparing for the match.

 

Shit, Liz is going to kill me. She's going to literally PK me if she finds out about this. The worst part is, Jarde publicized their fight in the guild chat with the intent to humiliate her so there are more than 20 members here watching the fight who have nothing better to do. This makes it even harder to sweep under the rug.

However not all hope is lost. As a last resort, I message someone who can de-escalate the situation. Good thing she arrived here as soon as she heard about the situation.

 

"You're here, finally!" I cried in relief.

 

"Heya Renz," FairyDust greeted.

"Can you stop the match?" I asked FairyDust who just emerged from the stairs.

 

She assessed the situation for a while before speaking her mind.

 

"Hmm... nope, not a chance," she said nonchalantly. "With this much crowd gathered, it's nigh impossible to just cancel it unless I want the guild members to think that I play favorites."

 

"Can you at least do something? They had a bet. If she loses she will step down from being an officer. She might even quit our guild outright if that happens! We will lose a skilled member," I pleaded.

 

"No worries, I have some semblance of a plan. She's one of your teammates for the tournament right?" She guessed correctly.

 

"How did you know?"

 

"It's pretty obvious isn't it, if Liz made a level 65 an officer, it is a testament to how skilled that girl is. She also keeps bragging nonstop that she found a talented support for the tournament. It is easy to connect the dots," she said smugly.

 

"And what do you suggest we do to stop this fiasco?"

 

"Nothing." she smiled playfully.

 

I looked at her with a mix of irritation and annoyance.

 

"Wait, hear me out before you complain. Nobody in here expects a spellcaster to actually win in a 1v1 right? All she needs to do is show her full capabilities and I'll handle the rest. This will also silence all the members questioning why Liz made a level 65 an officer of our guild. Judging from what I heard about her, I have full confidence I could spin a narrative that will favor her greatly," she said confidently.

My eyes widened. As expected from a former leader of a top guild. Phew, I'm kind of relieved now.

 

"Though, I can't stop her if she herself wants to honor the bet they made," she added.

 

"Yeah, leave that part to me, I'll try to convince her to not throw away the officer title."

 

"Renz what's going on here!?" A loud voice interrupted our conversation. It was Liz, along with Raynolds behind her. They probably just finished crafting Novo's set and came to find us just in time to arrive at the commotion.

 

"W-wait Liz, I can explain!" I said nervously.

 

She looked at the guild hall arena and saw Novo and Jarde preparing for a duel. She more than likely has an idea of the whole picture now. I'm definitely screwed.

 

"Tsk! I'm going there to stop this whole farce right now," she exclaimed.

 

"Wait a sec Eli, this is the perfect opportunity to nip the rumors in the bud if she could just show the other members here her potential," FairyDust stopped her.

 

"I don't care about the rumors," Liz countered.

 

"But I'm sure your friend does. And I'm willing to bet that it is the main reason why she's down there in the first place."

 

"But-"

 

"No buts, don't you trust your own teammate to pull through?" FairyDust appealed to her conscience.

 

What a manipulative question, if she goes down to stop the match now, she would be implying that she doesn't have faith in Novo in the slightest. What a sly fox, though I keep it to myself or she would skin me alive if she ever heard me say it.

 

Liz forcefully closed her eyes to think hard for a bit before she conceded.

 

"Fine, but if this scheme of yours backfires, I won't forgive you,"

 

"Of course, I wouldn't want my favorite cousin to get mad at me," FairyDust smiled disarmingly.

 

"I'm disappointed in you, Clarence. I entrusted you to protect Miss Katherine while I was away and you failed to do so in my stead," Raynolds walked beside me while simultaneously guilt-tripping me.

 

"Shut it, you simp," I said curtly.

 

"How rude!" he exaggeratedly said while feigning a hurt look.

 

"Quiet you two, the show is about to start," FairyDust interrupted our bickering.

 

It brought my attention back to the training hall and I saw that they were already both in position for a duel.

 

"Are you ready girlie?" Jarde mocked.

 

"....." She remained silent as she stashed her healing staff for the final preparations.

 

She must have put it back into her inventory. It was a good idea too since it is useless and I think she has a higher chance if she fought using only her daggers since she would not be able to channel uninterrupted in this duel. As I was thinking that she would fight without a staff, she materialized a different one from her inventory. It was a different type of staff, apparent from the orb attached to it. Judging from the white color of the orb, it was a time orb for chronomancy spells. So she put some spell mastery points in chronomancy too huh? That was unusual since I had only ever seen her use staves with holy orbs for healing-based spells but what really caught my attention was the staff that the white orb was attached to. It emitted a dreadful dark red aura. Crafted in a pure black wood with designs of dreadful small souls as if they are screeching in agony plastered throughout the entirety of the staff. I noticed that the time orb is attached to the mouth of a red skull the size of a human's head found on the tip of the staff. I shivered at the sight while the murmurs of the crowd grew louder.

 

"Ray, what the hell is that staff?" I asked Raynolds who is the most knowledgeable person I know in-game.

 

"That's... that staff is called 'Crimson Blood' a unique weapon," Raynolds blurted gravely.

 

That is shocking, a newbie like her already acquired a unique weapon? Those kinds of weapons are extremely hard to get, either from accomplishing hidden requirements in a quest, fortuitous crafting, or other impossibly hard means of playing the game. The most distinct features of unique weapons are being untradable and undroppable upon death. It will always bind to whatever account that manages to obtain them.

 

"I heard rumors from the deep forum of the CoA community threads but I haven't seen it myself. They say it is a unique staff you can get from a certain storyline quest in the demon continent only available by doing the quest below a certain level threshold," he continued. "It is extremely hard to acquire since it requires not taking any damage throughout the whole quest line for the NPC to give it to you as a bonus reward item. If you happen to make a mistake by taking damage even once during the quest, you will have to create another account for you to have a chance at getting the staff, or so I heard.

 

"Whoah, then acquiring that staff is already a testament to her skills, right?" FairyDust chimed in.

 

"I agree, although few take the quest seriously except for unique weapon collectors because that staff has one of the most double-edged weapon skills in the game and almost nobody can use it that effectively," he continued to explain.

 

"Why is that? What does it do?" I asked curiously.

 

"You can sacrifice your hp for a damage boost," he replied helpfully.

 

"Sacrifice?" FairyDust hinted to him to elaborate.

 

"Yeah, for example, if you sacrifice 10 percent of your hp to the skill, you will acquire a 10 percent damage boost, the amount of hp you sacrificed will be proportionate to the amount of damage boost you will receive."

 

"That is pretty good right?" I wondered.

 

"Not quite, it isn't called a 'curse' for nothing. The hp you sacrificed cannot be healed nor recovered by any means for the duration of the curse. It has bad synergy for support mages like Miss Katherine who are squishy enough as it is, making them even easier to kill. It's not that good unless you are a DPS mage who wants to go full glass cannon mode which is also extremely risky because even a stray arrow could kill you if you're not careful enough with the health you sacrifice. I don't advise her using it for a duel where there is no one you can rely on to tank hits for you." He rambled on.

 

That is very bad. I hope she knows what she's doing.

 

I glanced at Liz and she remained uncharacteristically silent while looking at Novo. She is more than likely anxious about the fight that is about to transpire resulting in her current somber mood.

 

"Ready to get publicly humiliated and brought to light for the fraudulent cocksucker you are girl?" Jarde obnoxiously exclaimed just as the timer for the battle counted down.

 

My blood boils at his unjust claims but Novo seems to ignore him completely.

 

Duel starting in
5....

 

Just before the timer started its countdown, Novo was already channeling a spell. Preemptive channeling is a textbook way for a mage to fight a duel since they can instantly cast any spell they want for a single time after the battle starts, provided that they finish the channeling before the battle starts of course. Some players complain that it is unhonorable and all that nonsense but I think it is perfectly fine given the drastic disadvantage spellcasters intrinsically have in a 1v1 duel.

 

The spell she was preemptively casting was a greater haste spell. It boosts your speed by 1.25x. It is faster than the usual haste spell that only boosts the speed by 1.15x. The downside is that it only lasts for forty seconds and has a very high mana cost, making it severely less efficient than just a normal haste spell.

 

1....
Duel Start!

 

Novo
Hp: 100%

Jarde
Hp: 100%

 

"Greater Haste," Novo cast her pre-emptive spell, creating a white light that enveloped her body.

 

After about a second, she used another skill.

 

"Blood Curse," she murmured.

 

A dreadful crimson aura engulfed her whole body completely as her hp drastically fell.

 

Novo
Hp: 5%

 

"Huh!?"

"Whoah!"

"Kat!"

"What are you doing newbie!"

 

The four of us exclaimed just as the other guild members became rowdier.

 

Is she out of her mind!? Why did she sacrifice 95% of her hp?! One wrong move or even a lucky graze from her opponent will kill her instantly at this rate.

 

"Hahaha, I don't know what you did but that's the right decision, save yourself the humiliation and just go kill yourself right now!" Jarde taunted.

 

Novo ignored Jarde's ramblings as she put the sinister staff on her backstrap and walked unhurriedly towards him akin to someone casually walking in a park. Her uncanny stroll while being engulfed in a crimson aura was so ominous that it made me quiver. It appears that Jarde had become wary of the unusual situation too and lapsed into silence. Novo seems unguarded and full of openings to the untrained eye but someone as experienced in PVP as I can slightly notice the full caution in every step she makes while retaining her absolute focus on the entire battlefield. Her casual way of walking might even be a psychological trick to make her opponents let down their guard and inadvertently net her an extra advantage.

 

Jarde did a prompting attack by throwing his small wakizashi toward her head. Even if he has a trashy personality, he does have some skill befitting a member of a high-level guild.

 

The throw was fast and precise, directly aimed at Novo's head. As I thought that it would be the end for her, she dodged it perfectly by tilting her head ever so slightly. It almost made my heart leap out of my chest on how close it was to almost hitting her before she made a move. What is wrong with you newbie!? Don't scare us like that!

 

"Tsk!" Jarde was now taking her seriously as his casual demeanor suddenly changed into a serious one.

 

Jarde places his hand into his katana, readying a sheathed slash while waiting for Novo to walk into his striking zone, this is getting dangerous, if I had to reluctantly name a strong point of Jarde, I would pick his insanely fast opening iai strike that even I failed to block or dodge when we fought.

"Be careful newbie!" I shouted.

 

She did not hear my warning probably due to her intense focus on the match. Even if she did, she completely ignored it as she continued to walk towards a fully prepared Jarde.

 

When she reached Jarde's striking distance, a quick horizontal crescent slash met her upper torso.

 

It was supposed to cut her in half but it passed through her like she was transparent.

No that's not it, she suddenly ducked while simultaneously closing the distance the moment it almost hit, exhibiting extreme flexibility and the ability to read her opponent's moves. It was done insanely fast and it made me think that the slash went right through her.

 

They met eye to eye, both their faces a couple of inches short of brushing with how close they were to each other before she did two quick stabs with her daggers aimed at his head while he was fully open after he had just swung his sword.

 

Shluk*

 

Jarde
Hp: 0%

 

"Wha-, "Jarde was in complete utter shock and disbelief that he couldn't even form coherent words.

 

And so is the entire hall.

 

"Honor your promise," she said coldly as Jarde turned into motes of light, disappearing completely from the battlefield.

 

"T-that's impossible, she killed him in just two hits? Even if she has a 95% damage boost due to her weapon skill, that's still not doable with her level unless she did a full Dex build, right?" FairyDust exclaimed.

 

"No... She did four stabs perfectly aimed at his head, not just two," Liz said solemnly.

 

That revelation shocked me. How did she move so absurdly fast in a short span? But then I instantly remembered something. She was self-hasted the whole time but it just slipped our minds. No that's not quite right. It is more like she made us forget. We fell to the illusion of her pace when she slowed down her movements to perfectly match that of a player without any haste buff. The crimson aura also helped to conceal the white light color of a haste buff for her benefit. She then purposely held back her movements to change the rhythm of her attacks and dodges to make it harder for her opponent to get a read on her true speed. Almost everyone's eyes were tricked by the sudden burst of acceleration of her last attack when she went for the kill, except for a few with very keen eyes like Liz.

 

Haste is one of the most difficult buffs to master as it can make the timing and tempo of a player's attacks out of whack if used by the inexperienced. It also changes your perception of time, making it seldom used by players not used to have a drastic change in their movement timings. But the way she moves, it's as if she poured blood, sweat, and tears into training while under the influence of movement speed-altering buffs. Newbie my ass, that is the last thing anyone will think of her when they see how flawless her motions were. Who the heck is she? Where did Liz even manage to recruit a monster like her?

 

After killing her foe, she silently walked out of the training hall as if she had just finished throwing out the trash on a normal busy day.

 

The entire hall became deathly silent.

 

"Ray," I muttered in a voice only he could hear.

 

"Y-yeah," he replied, still taken aback by what had just transpired.

 

"Remind me to never speak ill of Liz in front of her."