"What do you want, Dan?" Mrs. Forgetful asked. She slowly unsheathed a pair of daggers from her belt as she faced the man before her. Dan snarled, his face contorted with rage as his eyes turned bloodshot.
"Damn you, Leila! You were the one who stabbed me in the back and stole the treasure, weren't you?" Dan shouted. He raised his great sword— surprisingly with one hand— and aimed it at Mrs. Forgetful— Leila's face. Leila took a step back and raised her daggers, though her expression betrayed her true emotions. Leila had no confidence she could win a fight against a level 5 player, especially one wearing such strong armor.
"So what if I did?" Leila asked. By now, a crowd was gathering around the two and forming a circle. Soon enough, a natural ring was created. Whether she wanted it or not, Leila now found herself in the middle of a very public fight.
"Give it back, you thief! I was the leader of that party, it was mine!" Dan yelled. He brandished his greatsword and snarled once again, "Hand it over and I won't kill you! By the time you respawn, all of your equipment and gold will be gone! Maybe I'll have some fun along the way."
"What the hell? Sick bastard," somebody from the crowd muttered. A few people gave Dan Butler a disgusted look while a few others outright booed him. He ignored all of them— his rage too great to allow him distractions. By now, most of the crowd was rooting for Leila— Edward included. He stayed silent throughout the ordeal, though.
"You'll have to get through me first," Leila told him. She took two steps back— her body moving faster than should be possible for a level one. Edward knew it was because of her additional starting stats as a player with a blood origin. He also had an agility boost at level one, so he knew how it felt.
Most of the crowd, though, had no idea why she was so fast. When they saw her move like a level three player despite only being level one some of them assumed she was using enchanted equipment. A few members of the crowd began asking where they, too, could get equipment like that.
"Oh, don't you worry, I will. Prepare to die!" Dan ran forward, his great sword raised high above his head. He moved fast— much faster than Leila. By the time he took his second step, he had already caught up to her. Once she was within range, he used all of his strength to force his weapon onto her shoulder. Luckily, she managed to roll away fast enough to dodge a fatal attack. Unfortunately, though, she didn't move fast enough to remain completely unharmed.
Dan's great sword cut through one of her legs— severing it completely. She cried out in pain— real pain— before falling onto her other leg. Blood poured from the open wound like a kitchen faucet. As soon as she fell, though, Leila managed to regain her bearings. She rolled, dodging yet another dangerous strike intended to end her life.
As she rolled, Leila threw one of the daggers she kept in her hand. The dagger sailed to Dan's face, but he moved out of the way with ease. The dagger missed before sailing uncontrolled into the crowd behind. Somebody might've been hit, but nobody had noticed. All of the attention in the square was focused on the fight in front of them. However, everybody was beginning to don solemn expressions. Most knew that the battle was already over.
Leila had lost a leg— as well as a solid chunk of health to go with it. Her only attack proved to be too slow to successfully strike her opponent. She couldn't dodge, and she wasn't fast enough to hit Dan. By now, the truth was apparent for all to see. Whether the fight lasted one minute or one hour didn't matter, for Dan was guaranteed to win.
The crowd watched as Leila continued to roll around— each time barely dodging a strike that would've ended the match immediately. She threw a few more daggers, but each one missed her target. Dan was beginning to laugh menacingly as the fight drew on for longer.
Edward sighed as he watched the 'fight'. His eyes lingered on Mrs. Forgetful and the status screen explaining her origin. He wanted to talk to her, to ask her everything about her origin she knew. Maybe she was privy to some secret about blood classification Origins that he didn't know. However, he also didn't want to have that conversation after she hit rock bottom.
Therefore, to talk to her, Edward had to first stop the fight happening in front of him. With a quick command, he turned to Ikarus.
"Ikarus. Burn that man," Edward whispered in Draconic. A few people turned to him, startled by the sudden foreign words. They were even more startled when they saw a large silver creature fly into the air at double the speed of an arrow. Ikarus didn't need to be told twice to enact violence. He quickly rose from Edward's shoulder and spread his wings wide for all to see. The glare of the sun reflected off of Ikarus's body like a beacon.
Soon enough, everybody in the square saw Ikarus. Then, they heard him. With a great roar, Ikarus let out the sound hidden within the belly of dragons. His sharp teeth and barbed tail terrified anyone who was close to him— despite his small size. Several players dropped to the ground out by instinct, their bodies shaking and squirming. A few even began to cry at the sight of the 'terrifying' newborn dragon.
Nobody seemed to notice that Ikarus was only the size of a housecat— perhaps a little larger. As Edward saw the crowd of players fall to the ground, he gazed upon them like a king gazes upon his subjects. A sense of satisfaction rose from deep within him, and a smile crept upon his face.
'These players… it's like they're bowing to me!' Edward thought to himself. He took a step forward as he moved closer to the fight. By now, both of the fighters had frozen. One froze because of fear. The other froze due to overwhelming relief. Dan Butler had fallen onto his knees. His great sword dropped onto the ground. His eyes bulged through his helmet as his body shook harder than anybody else in the square.
He was the focus of Ikarus's rage. He was the target doomed to burn. Ikarus hovered over him like a hunter standing over trapped prey. Ikarus took a deep breath— causing Dan to panic. He quickly turned around and attempted to run away, but his fate was already sealed. Ikarus opened his mouth and fired his powerful blue flames. The stream of fire coated his body like a second set of armor as the wreaths of flame covered his helmet like a crown. His armor melted within moments—staining both his skin and the stone floor beneath. Where he stepped the fires burned the soles of his feet and created small craters in the ground.
Edward found himself focusing only on the sounds of Dan Butler's screams. Was this cruel to do to another player? Edward didn't even consider it. He only viewed Dan as an enemy— one that was now singing praises of Edward's victory. Soon enough, though, that song ended. Dan's dead body dropped to the ground as a charred skeleton. The fight was ended and the victor had been declared.
Ikarus glided back onto Edward's shoulders. During that moment, Edward looked at Mrs. Forgetful, the one staring at him with eyes filled with gratitude. For a moment, Edward believed she was grateful for interrupting the fight when he did, but he quickly found that her gratitude was for a different reason.
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In the presence of an Ascended player, The Forgetful One has remembered her identity as a fellow Dragonkin
She is Ascending
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