Amelia

An undead monster launched itself right over the front lines and onto the ground in front of me with a scream.

“Oh, fuck!” I swore, and flicked a button to extend a blade from below the barrel of my gun.

Jazz might not be the most elegant weapon when I used her as an axe, but at least she got the job done. Nothing like the raw weight of a giant railgun to drive a blade through rotting flesh and bone.

Nearby, I heard someone swear and recoil from a monster they’d recently killed. “Shit! Don’t let them hit you! They give you a debuff that saps your stamina.”

The man who’d shouted the advice took a claw to the face a moment later, and he went down with a gurgle.

Shoving my foot down, I wrenched Jazz out of the corpse and swung her up, flipping a canister out of my bandolier in the same moment. It arced through the air and I caught it, snapping it into Jazz with practised flair. She made a beautiful, satisfying crunch clunk sound as I worked her mechanisms to drive the ammunition home.

I fired, and a two foot wide beam of light ruined every enemy inside it. The allies caught by the shot, including the unlucky man who’d given the warning, found their wounds healed and their bodies protected by strong shields of magic.

My efforts were only a temporary bolstering of our lines, though. More and more creatures swarmed us, writhing and scrambling their way over their dead brethren to get to us. People were falling to the stamina debuff all down the line as tanks took minor scratches to exposed skin that brought them shuddering to their knees. Sang was among the tanks to fall to his knees, but even then he kept his shield up and his bolstering auras alive.

Kimberly, the healer girl from Tami’s party, let out a scream and I turned in alarm, only to find her smiting one of the horrors with a touch. It burst into brilliant white flames and fell to the ground dead. Her cry wasn’t out of fear, it was out of bloodlust.

“Bia, cover me!” she called, and rushed towards our guild leader.

The mage was quick to answer Kimberly’s call, blasting undead out of the way so she could reach the faltering tank. Sliding down the gentle slope like a kid during a snow day, she reached Sang and placed a hand on the large armoured lizard. Green energy infused him at the contact, and a cleansing light washed out in all directions.

Rising like godzilla from the deep, Sang smashed his shield into the face of an oncoming monster. It flew backward, bowling many more over until there was a small pile-up just beyond the battle lines.

“That’s a wacky build, Kimmy!” Bia laughed, throwing another spell to protect the girl whose nickname she was already using.

Kimberly flashed our mage a grin. “I’ve been pocketing Tami for so long I have some pretty niche skills. Full stamina restoration is one of them!”

Amused and shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the enemy. This was getting way too close and personal for my build. What the hell was I even meant to do when the fighting was so cramped that Jazz was nothing but an improvised blunt weapon?

“Stow Jazz away,” Rosa told me quickly. “Do you have a knife or something?”

I didn’t question her orders, I just swung my enormous cannon onto my back and allowed the straps to take hold. My next motion summoned a shortsword from my inventory, and I held it up with a questioning look at my girlfriend.

“Take my hand with your free one and start pointing the blade at zombies,” she told me, and I did so readily.

Like some sort of crazy magic wand, my sword spat out a flurry of navy blue projectiles that ripped through the zombie I’d aimed at. Pieces of it fell to the ground, and its legs went limp when I severed something important inside.

“Nerve blades,” Rosa giggled menacingly. “They sever any control tethers they hit. It’s technically still ‘alive’ but it can’t move its body.”

“What the hell?” I blinked, staring at her. “Where did you find that spell?”

“I made it just now,” she said. “It’s easy when you can take a quick peek behind the curtain, so to speak.”

Oh. Okay. Damn, but this girl was scary sometimes.

With Rosa’s new nerve blades using me as a conduit, we scythed down a dozen or so of our enemies in quick succession. It cleared enough space for some of the folks nearby to catch a few seconds or so of breathing room where they could pop potions and renew buffs.

The breather couldn’t have come at a better moment, but it was still too late.

Through the hordes of rotting animated flesh came the living part of the Pagutum army. Players clad in red and black armour charged us in a wave of magically enhanced strength and ferocity. Sang took a warhammer on his shield and grunted. Kimberly stumbled backwards when an arrow took her in the arm, prompting Bia to teleport forward and grab her. Both disappeared in a flash, retreating deeper into our formation.

Tired and on edge because of the screeching undead, our allies fell to their attack. Amado flickered out of visibility when a lucky hit from a rival rogue took him in the thigh. It was time to get the hell out of dodge. This was getting bad.

With Rosa’s hand already in mine, I dragged her backwards and out of the way. We made it a few steps before she made a gurgling, gasping sound and her grip went slack.

Standing over her, the Mageblade Butcher yanked his knife out of her with a savage grin, and my heart stopped in my chest. My Rosa gasped and wheezed, falling to her knees, pain written over her features.

“Got you, you fucking bitch!” the vile man hissed, driving the blade into her again. "Wait, why didn't you take any magic damage?"

I saw red. Anger flooded every part of me like a shattered glacier. My head felt numb and hot at the same time.

My sword struck out, catching the knife before it could hit my precious girl for a third time. I drew back and rammed the point of my blade at him without any sort of finesse. His dagger caught me in the side, but I got mine through his left shoulder in turn.

I didn’t stop. Letting go of my blade, I pushed forward and stepped over Rosa. I was screaming fire and filthy language when Jazz swung under my arm and into my hands. I shoved the barrel of the gun into his stomach, rammed a cartridge into the breech, and locked it closed. Teeth bared, I pulled the trigger.

I had no idea what canister I’d put into Jazz until I fired. It was a concussive shot. The Butcher flew backwards, tumbling into and through zombies like they were made of paper until he rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

Dropping my gun and hitting the quick release, I knelt and gathered Rosa into my arms. Her expression was tight with pain, but even now with two stab wounds, she gritted her teeth in determination.

“Ame,” she grimaced. “Get back. The line is moving. I’ll detonate myself and meet you back at the guild.”

“No, I don’t want to leave you here,” I hissed, looking around to see she was right. We were losing. Already some of the other guilds were retreating towards the Taeru. Our guild was almost two dozen metres back now, and the distance was increasing even while they called for us to join them.

Rosa frowned. “God damn it, Ame. Just go, this isn't going to—”

Pain flared in my back, and I fell onto her with a gasp.

“Not so tough when you don’t have her buffs, huh?” The Butcher’s voice asked, right next to my ear.

“Fuck you,” I growled, spitting blood.

“If this carebear game would let me,” he laughed, and shoved me down into the dirt.

I landed on my side looking up at him, and god, I wish I’d planted my face in the blood-slick snow instead. The expression on his face was vile and left little doubt as to what he meant.

“Just kill us,” I snarled, trying to get back up. His boot made sure I didn’t.

“Sorry, sexy,” he grinned, showing way too many teeth. “See, if I kill you, then you’ll respawn to blow up more of our vehicles down the line. Nah, the officers want you captured, shoved in a dark cell where you can either sit in filth or log out.”

My stomach dropped. No. No, this game was my real life! If he did that, I’d be stuck in my home space or forced to log out into…

Panic swept through me like a wildfire, and all my earlier rage was purged from my system in a single moment. Please no, please—

A single wisp of black smoke trailed up off the ground. It curled up to touch my hand where it lay propped up on a body. Like the most delicate of lover’s touches, it reassured and calmed me.

I looked up to see Rosa’s eyes go black with smouldering violence.

QuietValerie

Sorry everyone! I forgot to schedule this chapter! It was meant to come out yesterday :O