Sweeping his hand hovering over his chest as a command revealing his character sheet, Fargil had taken a look at his current status, clenching his fists in confidence, affirming whether his Ring of Deception wore off just in case the function of the system aren't working.
»»————- ★ ————-««
Name: Fargil
Class: Astral Guardian
Level: 3369
Buffs/Ailments: Gaia's Eonia(buff)
Status Rank: Sovereign
- Strength: 1628
- Intelligence: 5140
- Wisdom: 11572
- Dexterity: 522
- Defense: 345
- Health: 203
»»————- ★ ————-««
Amidst the raging conflict between joint forces of Goldendusk and Farasia storming across the once vast green city of Arasyal, Capital of the Alfahim Kingdom; a man under the verdant garments set aside the two ladies under his arms.
"Ranoa... Take Akeela and keep an eye on her. I'll just correct things as I see fit while we're on our way to the royal palace."
The five silver rings were encapsulated by a layer of glistening diamond specks of dust. Both Ranoa and Akeela were taken aback seeing ominous accessories they thought they should not gaze under Fargil's watch.
"A-Alright... Lead the way." Ranoa's long ears were sideways flattened, a sign of an elf's distress.
[ I heard his name's Fargil... But who the hell is he? Is he planning to take on the coordinated army of the Goldendusk Republic and Farasia Empire? No way an individual can conquer our invading forces... ]
Akeela's perspiration was abundant, her heartbeat was erratic she can't exactly tell what has gotten into her. However, as Fargil turns around and their gaze met once more just like she did the first time they met in the woods; she became certain of what afflicted her at that very instant.
Fear.
A tormenting dread consuming her sanity.
It was fear that grasped her heart to the core. Akeela had fought and won countless wars by Zinonian tactics and technology, always emerging as the top soldier until she acquired the title of a Commander.
During those years of training, tribulations, and hard-fought war that pushed Akeela forward to become the best among the best; she grew tired and bored.
She always envies the weak, believing they experience the thrill of existence far more than her meaningless achievements as a leader and commander.
Akeela plunges into the chaos of war and dances like a ballerina not to win the war, but so she can sate her thirst for the thrill of battle. She seeks the pleasure of death slipping down her throat, yearning for the true meaning of war.
Except, when she stare within Fargil's soul; what she found wasn't the sweetened taste of death nor the thrill of the hunt, instead, she was lured into the abyss of fear, simply to realize that in Fargil's eyes; she's already dead when she harmed Ranoa for the sake of her amusement and satisfaction.
Enamored by his charm in the strangest approach, Fargil's death glare excites her more than she could ever imagine.
And so she writhes as Ranoa's keeping Akeela under her arms. Her reddened cheeks over her tan were transparent, seeking Fargil as a means of entertainment even though she can't possibly get out of the silver vines Fargil placed on her.
The man who would take the role of support for his own selfless gains decided he'd protect his kingdom regardless of what he had to overcome.
It's just in Fargil's eyes, the invading soldiers laying waste to Arasyal was nothing but just a bother in his path to learning the truth about Maqirelle, Ranoa, and his sudden reincarnation 200 years ago.
Even so, fate would always stand in his way to bring him down.
A squadron of Zinonian soldiers patrolling the fort just entered from the entrance outside the Eternal River, immediately identifying the captive being held by the maiden beside an ominous mage in verdant attire.
"Hey... Is that the maiden? Didn't the alpha and delta chase her to the forest?" A soldier caught a glimpse of Ranoa. Her extravagantly-shiny armor was what the soldier noticed on her.
But a male soldier who appears to have the same commander uniform as Akeela elbowed his ally and told him.
"Is that really what you saw? Can't you see that Commander Akeela is being held captive by the maiden they were chasing an hour ago?! Surround them at once and kill anyone who gets in our way. Bring the maiden to me and I'll confer half of the reward I'd get for capturing her!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
The commanding soldier signaled the rest of the squadron under his command, enclosing the route from both directions across the streets and avenue.
Their firearms were already charged with bullet ethers, taking aim at the menacing figure of a mage hiding his countenance under the cloak imbued with darkness.
"Who are you! State your name, green mage. Surrender Commander Akeela or else we'll kill both you and the maiden." The proud commanding soldier supervising his regiment was confident of their great numbers.
He's already licking his lower lip, fantasizing about the bounty he could get on top of Ranoa's head, enough for him to retire and live peacefully for the rest of his remaining life.
Except, if he's still alive. He made the mistake of making an enemy out of Fargil during his serious mode of all times he could incur his wrath.
"Soul Link..." Fargil flicked his fingers and muttered. A quick-type magic circle materialized below Ranoa and Akeela that quickly disappeared for them to notice his incantation.
The reason why Fargil bound them under the protection of his Soul Link, a spell that will transfer the damage, ailments, and injury they take to him wasn't to ensure their safety; it was so he can go all out without worrying a thing or two for thinking he might kill someone important to him.
He even went to the extent of binding Soul Link to citizens and people hiding in their houses around his proximity 20 meters away; the range that he might obliterate once he demonstrate his capabilities not just as a support, but as the Top Player of Alfahim Kingdom.
"Damn it all...! Ranoa, stay behind me no matter what! I'm using grand spells!" Fargil warned her that he won't hold his reigns.
"A-Alright! Please keep safe!" Ranoa can't undoubtedly argue they are surrounded by the enemy soldiers that brought ruin to her home, yet, when she stays behind Fargil's protection; she thought as if she can go against the world. She placed her faith and trust in him even though they literally just met a while ago.
Despite being overwhelmed by numbers, Fargil's irises shimmered like cosmic stars across the heavens, channeling his spells as an Astral Guardian, the class they considered the weakest in Arkmeria Conquer Online.
In ACO, classes are the foundation of players worth and source of merit. If a player's avatar is the appearance and outside shell, class is the pearl and fuel that ignites and forges the image of a player.
Classes are divided into distinct categories that differentiate their role from others. The diverged roles ACO offers are Melee, Tank, Long-range, Spellcaster, and the lowest among them, the Support.
Support is deemed the worst role simply for the boring gameplay, assisting teammates and healing them was the basic necessity of the allotted position. They were also given the lowest status distribution property and stunted skill escalation.
That's why most of the high-ranking players and guilds in-game even had to pay people in real life. Becoming support main in Arkmeria Conquer Online is more suffering than a day-to-day tedious job.
Even if they were hired and had taken the role of support for their team, they eventually get tired or they only use their support accounts during competitive wars and competition to provide support to the high-ranking players.
Nevertheless, classes have tiers for each chosen role. For example, a Spellcaster can choose the class Fire Mage, and eventually, attain a higher rank to unlock the skills for Flame Executioner exponentially heightening the previously acquired skill sets.
So who would want to unlock higher ranking classes under the role of support if they aren't getting anything out of it? Sure, few players attained high-ranking classes as a support-main, but they had to drop their accounts or sell them because support has the lowest scaling amongst the rest of the roles.
However, there was a man who foolishly leveled up the hard way to reach one of the highest classes under the class tree of the support role, attaining the class, Astral Guardian; an enchanter-type spellcaster that brings the force of cosmic entities and heavenly bodies to furnish buffs, debuffs, crowd control, and constant ailment provider to the enemy team.
There was a player who experimented and tried to grind his level so he can try Astral Guardian's skill set. He live-streamed his progress and provided actual meaningful tips for the player base.
Though, not all things go their way. Just as anyone expected, upon attaining and testing the said class; he posted to his main account that he wasted 2 months just to get his hands on a trash skill-set and called it the trashiest class, further devaluing the worth of the support role.
It became dire that ACO's developers' upcoming patches were minor balance reworks leaning to support classes, but to no avail, as the role remain underpowered.
Except, it all changed when the Top Support Player of Alfahim Kingdom attained the highest using the same class they deemed the weakest.
"Hmph... Meta and skill values are nonexistent in this world... This Arkmeria no longer has the concept of weak or strong. Right now, I'm enough as a one-man army to repel Zinonian soldiers and Farasian holy knights, all by myself."
Fargil whispered his motives under his heavy breath. His hands blazed in the radiance of cosmic gold particles, constructing a string of celestial chains affixed with a crescent hook hanging loosely at the edge of the lower fitting.
"Cosmic Shackles...!"