Stabbed's knees felt weak, he had never faced such a thorough defeat. From 500 players to his guile's top experts. Nothing worked, perhaps nothing will...
~ ~ ~
Desk Guy sighed in relief. It was a good thing they won. Had the other side won, then they would have the rights of the battle clip. Even if they agreed the clip had to highlight their battle. Not the silver haired player's.
The developers were silent. They had been standing around for two hours, watching the battle take place. While in-game it felt like six hours. With their technology it was easy for them to filter the video into real time.
"That was awesome." Someone said.
A door swung open and Scott came walking in. The developers immediately grew nervous. After all they had been slacking off for two hours. Desk guy just grinned.
Scott gathered the attention of everyone. Clearing a throat he announced, "I have also been watching. For someone forwarded the video feed to me. I think it's fair we make this one of the events to go on our wall?"
There was no disagreement, if that battle didn't go on the wall nothing would.
The 'wall' was literally that, along with a developer exclusive webpage. While the company was developing, in the room was a large blank wall. The team argued over what should decorate it until Desk Guy recommended they save it for their favorite in-game events they had witnessed. This idea grew popular rapidly, so the wall remained blank during the creation of A World's Legacy. Now the first event everyone enjoyed happened.
There would be a high resolution screen placed with a plaque underneath with the date of the event. The screen would play side scrolling pictures of the event. On the developer page the video would be accessible to employees.
Scott nodded in approval, "Then get back to work! I will make arrangements."
~ ~ ~
Tilia went to rest next to Yielya and the rest. Akiol stood up and patted her shoulder as he walked past. He made his was towards Stabbed.
"So, it's your loss. What do you have to say?" Akiol prompted.
Stabbed was in a craze, he couldn't accept his defeat. They did something to win, something like a bug or a cheat.
With an idea suddenly coming to mind Stabbed called, "Bart!"
A small screen appeared in front of Stabbed. It was Bartholomew, his face visible like a video call. He asked, "You called?"
"These guys must be cheating or something! They won against five-hundred players with just six of them!" Stabbed accused.
Bartholomew frowned, "Give me a moment."
The video screen turned to static with 'One Moment' being displayed as text. Shortly later Bartholomew came back.
"I spotted nothing wrong. You lost a fair battle, please do not accuse openly without evidence. Goodbye."
The video call closed. Stabbed felt like he popped a vein with anger.
Akiol calmly asked, "Anything to say?"
"This isn't the end of this!" Stabbed shouted back, "I will win one of these days! I will be the victor!"
Akiol shook his head in disappointment. He walked closer to Stabbed. Stabbed panicked and summoned Loxit warning, "Don't come close!"
Akiol dispelled the Sage's Eye. He tossed it to Stabbed, "Here, your grudge against us is now only yours. Take down the bounty. We will fight you and your guild any day. Just let it be you and your guild."
Stabbed fumbled before solidly holding onto the item.
"Why. . . ?"
Akiol turned back towards his party and began to walk away. As he walked his said, "I told you, I was going to trade it for the removal of our bounty. Now that you have it make things easier for us will you?"
Stabbed looked at the item, this item was the beginning of everything. It was because of this that he suffered such losses.
Stabbed was troubled, sticking the item in his bag he walked off. He had lost this time, he would do his best to make sure next time wasn't the same.
Akiol returned to the party. Kan'na asked, "Why'd you give that back?"
Akiol smiled faintly, "To make things easier for us. I don't think we all joined the game to just battle players right?"
Yielya groaned, "Finally! Hopefully that means this is the end of this."
Wrock, who was still waking up, asked, "What happened?"
Akiol lifted Wrock up and replied, "We won."
~ ~ ~
Somewhere in a graveyard an undead was supervising a complicated spell. A grin on their face.
A robed purely bone skeleton arose. Compared to the skeletons casting the spell this new skeleton was farm more majestic. Their bones were ivory white, a purple majestic core in their ribcage.
On their hands were several rings, except on hand was missing a ring finger. This skeleton spoke, "Who summons me?"
The supervising undead kneeled and answered, "It was me your greatness."
The skeleton examined the undead, "Speak your mind lesser one."
"I had summoned you to assist the undead in their quest. I do hope you grant this wish of mine."
The skeleton scoffed, "You think I should assist you? When you haven't even summoned me to my full power?"
The skeleton showed its hand with the missing finger, "That finger held a chunk of my soul. Because of that I am significantly weakened! Why should I assist you?"
The undead remained calm, "With all due respect with your remaining power you could easily obtain your finger again. For the place holding it is none other than a small town!"
The skeleton tapped its chin. Snapping its fingers it ordered, "Then assist me in the reclaiming of my finger. Perhaps then we shall speak of your wish..."
"Yes your greatness."
"Bring me to the undead home, for it has been many a century since I have been asleep."
"Of course, before we go may I ask your greatness' name?"
The skeleton looked offended, "Very well! Carve this name into your soul so you may never forget. I am the great Lich Orothus!"
~ ~ ~
The party had arrived at the Adventurers Guild and were all seated at a table. Akiol began the conversation, "So about the competition..?"
"Honestly don't feel like it." Wrock answered.
The rest of the party looked at him suspiciously.
"Hold on let me use [Diagnose]." Yielya said, concerned.
Wrock batted her staff away, "I am fine!"
There was a collective, "Then. . . ?"
Wrock sighed, "Several reasons. As I fought today I had come to a few conclusions. I don't have many skills. So I want to spend some time and increase my arsenal. Additionally, I had my fill of battle. This body is significantly weaker than before. I don't really feel like I could fight to my full potential being held back like this."
Kan'na interjected, "I think we all feel like that."
There was agreement among the table.
"So then we should wait until the next competition. While we could fight now, I just feel like it wouldn't be worth it." Wrock finished.
"Then let's work together an level up, we should have plenty of time until the next one. Agreed?" Akiol suggested.
There was no disagreement. After working out some details everyone headed to log off. They were mentally exhausted from the long battle.
As Akiol was about to log off a notification appeared.
Akiol chuckled, it looks like another fight of his had been proven worthy. Once again having no reason to deny, Akiol agreed.