In a darkened forest, a large guild was defending their base by torchlight.
"Guilds are dropping like flies…"
"Yeah, not long till the big guilds will be forced to wage war against one another. No
telling when someone'll show."
They heard a rustle from the brush.
"…Come on."
"Yeah, better check it out."
They drew their swords and cautiously approached the source of the sound.
And when their lights reached the brush, they found the head of a monster, its mouth
open wide.
""... Huh?""
Before they could react, it swallowed them whole.
This nightmare had only just begun. The monster's rampage carried it into the heart
of their base.
By the time the defenders realized something was wrong, they were ripped apart,
bitten in half, or burned to a crisp.
Given the size of their guild, the initial casualties were hardly significant, but the
psychological impact was extreme, and the survivors were unable to mount any
organized resistance.
They were prepared for enemy armies to invade, but none of them were ready for a
single nightmarish monster running amok.
"This event has boss monsters?!"
"Nobody ever tells me nothin'!"
"It's after me! What do I do?!"
Chaos was spreading like a wildfire. Orders were given, and nobody listened.
Seven players jumped down from the creature's back, picking off defenders in the
turmoil punctuated by screams of terror.
The sight of this hideous monster eating their companions was so engrossing that
few defenders even noticed the other visitors.
By the time they realized the monster was not alone, half the guild had already been
slain.
"Okay, next!" Sally yelled.
The monster stopped gorging itself, let the seven climb aboard, and left the guild
behind. Any players who stood in her way were torn limb from limb.
"Cool, got the orb! This is going well."
"Where to now?"
"Hmm, let's go… left."
Maple was in full Atrocity mode while Sally rode on her back.
Their goal was to crush as many big guilds as they could before news about Maple's
last and greatest form spread—and before anyone could plan countermeasures.
She was a brand-new natural disaster, and nobody was prepared.
They'd swiped the orb, killed half the guild, and left before anyone even worked out
what was happening.
Maple had sacrificed humanity in exchange for mobility, and she spent the night
laying waste to absolutely anything she could get her grotesque appendages on.
In monster form, she had two big advantages: Firstly, nobody knew this was Maple,
and secondly, she didn't let anyone live long enough to consider using piercing skills.
And she had Sally directing her, calling for a timely retreat before anyone had time to
begin thinking about what attacks might be effective against the beast.
This plan was a multipronged affair that aimed to steal orbs, whittle down their
enemies, and sow untold devastation wherever they went.
One guild based in an open field had decided to weather the night by extinguishing
their torches, hoping to keep a low profile. Many of the largest guilds had large,
exposed bases, and the fields had proven the least defensible terrain.
"Not much moonlight tonight, either… Sure is dark."
"I thought as much during the second event, too. It's hard to do anything after
sunset."
Time passed in silence.
The only sounds filling the night air were insects chirping, the wind, and other guild
members talking softly.
So it was hard to miss the sound of something running toward them.
"Lights! Light it up!"
Light spells shot toward the sound—revealing a gargantuan monster, the likes of
which no one had seen yet in this event.
As the lights hit it, the beast breathed fire, causing a shudder to run through the
entire guild.
Few things before or after shook them quite as much as this.
Nobody knew what to do.
"This is ours!" the monster yelled, grabbing their orb.
"You can have these instead."
The seven figures on her back started throwing various objects at them.
And as the explosions rang out in a continuous staccato, iron spheres, shock waves,
and spells joined them.
Before large-scale combat even began, ten players had been eaten, twenty were
felled by raining fire, and quite a few more were simply trampled to death on the
monster's way out.
"Before the night is done, we've gotta take out as many as we can before word
spreads."
"You betcha!"
This plan could net them a bunch of points, but more importantly, it would hasten
the complete destruction of the larger guilds.
The event was progressing at breakneck speed to begin with, and this would only
accelerate it—all to ensure they'd stay in the top ten when the final day came.
Even if that proved impossible, based on the success of this strategy so far, Sally was
certain they could send the event into hyperdrive.
"Maple, hang in there a bit longer!"
"Gotcha! I'm still good to go!"
Maple raced toward their next target, never slowing down.
After watching the battle between Maple Tree and the Order of the Holy Sword,
everyone in the spectator zone spoke of nothing else.
"Maple actually won!"
"But it could have gone either way. I was sure Pain had won when he blew her away."
"The Order basically had it in the bag. It really was that final shocker that clinched it."
"No telling what would happen if they clashed again! Still… Maple's gone insanely
left field. She left the damn field!"
"Yeah… You can't exactly call her an angel anymore…"
They were, of course, talking about Atrocity. The silence after her transformation
had been palpable. Literally no one could believe their eyes.
"Where'd she even find that skill?"
"…Who knows. I can imagine why Pain was shocked!"
"How does that thing move?! With all those limbs…"
"I don't think I could even walk in that form."
"Either way, this means Maple Tree have a real shot at ranking. I mean, if even Pain
can't do it, who can?"
"You've gotta come prepared with more than just Poison Resist. Like, seriously, most
bosses are easier."
"You can say that again. But I'm glad I saw it with my own eyes! Proof that Maple can
be damaged! The concept of HP applies even to her!"
"I hope those two fight again somewhere. Just… not near me."
Everyone present nodded in hearty agreement.
"Still, the monster thing is nuts."
Everyone nodded again, with emphasis.
The massacre continued unabated all night long, ending at six the next morning.
Maple Tree piled the orbs they'd stolen on their pedestal, put their own orb back in
place, and declared the operation was complete.
"Whew… I'm bushed! I haven't run that far… ever…"
Maple was still in monster form.
Thanks to Sally's sharp eye for potential threats, she'd taken little to no damage… but
fatigue was another matter.
"Is it all right if I get some shut-eye? If anything happens, you can just come and
wake me up."
"Yeah, it's fine. You get some rest."
Maple headed down the hall—without dropping Atrocity.
Seemed a shame to let it dissipate unless she had to.
Atrocity could only be used once a day.
"If any big guilds roll in, then the plan is to just back off so we don't lose anyone?"
"Yep, that's right. We'll grab our orb and take it straight to Maple."
Since Maple Tree was classified as a small guild, the guilds they'd robbed were due
for a significant point loss, and odds were high some would be willing to risk an
attack to avoid that.
Maple Tree currently possessed ten orbs.
Seven belonged to big guilds.
And since all of them would have to come here to get their orbs back, there was a
solid chance they'd clash before they even reached Maple Tree.
If they didn't come after the orb, it was probably because they were busy attacking
some other guild.
Whatever happened to these orbs in the end, a lot of players would die.
And since Maple Tree were trying to speed up the event's progression, this carnage
was more valuable than any points they might get from the orbs themselves.
It didn't really matter if they managed to defend them or not.
"I think we've got a solid shot at the top ten. We got off to a good start."
"That means we've gotta focus on staying alive. Let's see if anyone comes."
One eye on the entrance, they all did their best to ease the pent-up exhaustion.
Just after seven, some seventy-odd players came in, huddled behind a row of great
shielders.
When they emerged from the narrow passage into the large room, they swiftly
spread out, weapons raised. The orb pedestal was a good fifteen yards away, and
they were playing it safe.
"…Think they're the winners of a fight?"
"Not sure. I think it's likely they lost some people on the way over, but…"
It was a lot of people, but… not for a large guild.
Maple Tree's formation had Sally, Chrome, and Kasumi at the fore, avoiding the area
in front of the twins.
Iz was standing between Mai and Yui while Kanade brought up the rear.
The berth they gave the twins was to give them room to freely throw iron spheres.
""Hyah!""
The attackers had seen quite a lot of combat, and their shields simply couldn't
withstand those thrown missiles.
"More," Iz said, pulling additional spheres out of her inventory as fast as the twins
could throw them. They wouldn't run out of ammo any time soon.
But powerful tanks and sheer numbers meant the attackers were still making
progress.
Mai and Yui could one-shot anyone, but they could only throw one sphere at a time,
so there were plenty of people not getting hit at all.
And of course, front-line fighters were prime magic targets. A wave of spells shot
toward them—
"Cover Move!"
Chrome vaulted in front of them, tanking the attack spells with shield and body.
He took a lot of damage, but his shield and skills quickly restored it.
As long as Chrome didn't die, simply standing still would start healing him, which
made him incredibly hard to kill.
He spent a lot of time in Maple's shadow, but he was a nightmare to handle in his
own right.
"Frozen Land."
Kanade activated a pale blue grimoire, encasing the advancing forces in ice that
reached up to their ankles.
They were only stuck for five seconds…
But that was an eternity when the twins were nearby.
Shields snapped one after another while armor creaked and cracked—all bad things
that would make future combat brutal given the rules of this event.
Many players were already falling back. Their losses kept mounting.
"Oboro, Shadow Clone."
Sally's clones were dashing about, attacking everyone within sight.
She wasn't really built for defense or crowd control, so she mostly played support or
used her skills to sow chaos and shake enemy morale whenever the opportunity
presented itself.
Kasumi spent her time warping up to enemy tanks, cutting them down, and then
using Leap to withdraw before anyone could retaliate. Classic hit-and-run.
Each of them had their own strengths, and as long as they could use them to their
fullest, mobs of average players just wouldn't cut it.
You had to meet a certain strength threshold to compete.
And with less than an hour of sleep, the sound of iron spheres thumping roused their
leader.
There was a shuffling from down the hall, and a monster crawled out, rubbing its
eyes. The would-be invaders shuddered. They knew it had attacked their guild but
hadn't expected it to emerge from a back room like this.
"Would you all be quiet?! Do I have to beat you up again? Argh!"
This was a monster that was only created when someone who'd already crossed a
certain threshold takes a strange turn off the well-trodden path. And with her guild
backing her up—well, no one who hadn't even crossed that threshold yet stood a
snowball's chance in hell against her.
An hour after that first raid…
Another two hundred players came filing in, and Maple Tree decided to hand over all
orbs in their possession except their own before dashing back inside. Their goal was
to play it safe and keep all their members alive.
"If we've gotta lose them, it oughtta be a guild like that who should take 'em."
"Yeah… and from here on…"
The back room was a designated space for resting, but with Maple's Atrocity active,
there wasn't much space left. They all listened close, seeing if the massive guild
outside was planning on still coming after them.
If they did, they'd just have to wake up Maple. But these visitors seemed to know the
rule about sleeping Maples and apparently decided not to chance it.
Stealing Maple Tree's orb was the same as letting Maple Tree know exactly where
you were at all times.
A single orb was definitely not worth that risk. There was no need to deliberately
provoke legitimate threats.
Five minutes after the enemy cleared out, Chrome was at the head of the party,
putting their orb back on the pedestal.
"All right… Now we just have to hope the big guilds all take one another down," Sally
muttered.
Kasumi sidled up to her, showing the current rankings.
"Judging from this, the midsize guilds are getting eliminated quick. We've definitely
upped the pace."
Based on the numbers, by day four, almost no one besides the big guilds would be
left in the running.
"We've let the orbs go for now. Let's give Maple some more time to rest."
"Agreed," Kasumi said.
They had a plan for after the orbs were gone. Sally was already headed out.
"I'll follow that guild. If it looks like they might get in another big scrap, then…"
She looked at Kanade.
"Yes, we can use your skills and mine…," he said.
"Also, bring Maple."
"Got it."
"Right, then! I'm outta here."
And Sally departed from the base.
They'd wake Maple in three hours, or if they got word from Sally, whichever came
first.
"Doesn't seem like we'll be attacked by anyone else, so let's take this time to relax."
""Okay.""
Mai and Yui still had an important duty to fulfill.
It was vital they rest in preparation.
Sally caught up with the two-hundred-strong army relatively easily.
Moving en masse was a slow process. There were a limited number of routes they
could take that wouldn't nullify their numbers advantage.
She'd predicted the most likely route based on that logic, and her guess had paid off
in spades.
"Looks like they haven't run into any other guilds… yet."
Sally kept watch from a distance. She made sure they never spotted her, but she took
care to not lose them, either.
Holding orbs meant the orbs' owners knew exactly where you were. And most of
those owners were large guilds themselves.
Sally was pretty sure one of them would show eventually—and as she watched, two
fireballs appeared.
"Oh? Coincidence…? Well, we definitely didn't take their orbs."
Flames scorched the earth and skies alike, turning unlucky players to ash.
The massive guild flung spells back, but one player dodged them all, taking
advantage of her fire-powered Agility.
"Flame Empire… makes sense. Not a whole lot of guilds left, so any guilds trying to
stay in the top ten will have to fight them eventually. I feel bad for Maple, but…"
Sally sent Chrome a message, telling her teammates to bring their orb and assemble
at her location.
After easily dismantling a large guild all by herself, Mii took their orbs and headed
toward her base.
Flame Empire was currently in fifth place.
Maple's assault had hurt them, or they'd have been a bit higher in the rankings. She'd
destroyed a lot of Marx's traps and left their defense in tatters.
And as a result, a lot of their players had died or been eliminated completely.
"If we can just keep these orbs safe…"
Certain there was no immediate threat, Mii took an MP potion from her supply
squad.
In time, they reached the Flame Empire base and set the orbs in place. She breathed
a sigh of relief.
"Finding these was a stroke of luck…"
"But there's no telling who they belong to. And their owners are definitely coming
after us," Misery said.
And whoever those foes might turn out to be, they'd get there before the orbs could
get scored.
"Yes—call Shin over."
"Good idea."
They summoned everyone back to base and began preparing as best they could.
When Shin returned, Flame Empire's scout units were already reporting enemy
movement.
They were headed this way and every last one of them were large guilds. Flame
Empire's orb pedestal was surrounded by open fields. There was nowhere to hide.
And their foes knew exactly how powerful Flame Empire could be. None of them
could win on their own, so they were teaming up, hoping to take out a major foe and
then grab the prize for themselves afterward. This meant a makeshift alliance of
several large guilds now had Flame Empire surrounded.
"They're coming! Brace yourselves!"
"Yeah… Here's hoping…!"
"Don't worry; Mii'll take care of it."
"I'll keep everyone healthy."
But even as the guild leaders prepared themselves, Mii got a new message.
Monster inbound. Likely Maple. Threat level high.
Mii read this, and the color drained from her face.
"You're kidding… Hasn't she done enough? This is ridiculous!"
A rare glimpse of her real persona. Her friends all looked concerned.
She relayed the message to them.
"I feel sick."
"Look… Kasumi might have taken me down, but… She won, but…"
"Ah. Right… yeah…," Marx muttered… and then he collapsed.
He already knew his traps didn't work on Maple.
"I feel sick," Misery said, again.
But the allied hordes were closing in.
One guild after another appeared on their perimeter. Over a thousand players had
gathered.
"...We're wiping either way. Might as well take as many as we can with us!" Mii
roared.
She activated Flame Empress, steeling her nerves for the impending battle.
"You can do this. You have to do this," Marx muttered to himself, forcibly climbing to
his feet. He slapped his own cheeks a few times to clear his mind and rouse his
spirits.
"Right… here goes. Flare Impetus!"
With a fiery blast, the battle began. Spells rocketed toward Flame Empire from all
directions.
But they were up against several large guilds—it wouldn't be only spells.
"Saint's Prayer!"
Misery's spell made light pour from the heavens.
It cost all her MP and left her unable to recover MP for the next three minutes—but
in exchange, it provided high-speed auto-healing over a massive area for a set period
of time.
Any of her guild members who took damage recovered rapidly; it would take a lot of
sustained damage to kill anyone.
Big moves like this had major cooldowns, so even once she managed to restore her
MP, she couldn't use it again.
But this was definitely the time to bust it out.
"The rest is yours," Misery said.
She would be out of commission for a while and relying on her team.
"We've got this," Shin said. Mii had gone one way, so he and Marx went the other.
Dividing their forces weakened them, but the situation left them with no choice.
"Detonate!"
The spells hurtling toward her were deflected by the force of the blast as Mii
rocketed toward her enemies at speeds no other mage could manage.
Fireballs slammed into faces, and flames shot out of the ground, annihilating
everyone around her.
But this came at a steep MP cost. To take all these foes out using her current methods
would require more than the potions she had on hand.
"Nevertheless…!"
The more she could take down, the better their final standing would be.
Escape had never been an option. All she could do was push herself to the limit.
But then the thing she'd feared most arrived.
A giant monster was running across the field behind the enemy forces.
If she hadn't been in combat, Mii would've clasped a hand to her brow and stared up
at the heavens.
"We're so… doomed…"
Or so Mii thought. Her supposed enemy had other plans, however.
When the monster reached the alliance's rear lines, it tore into them, ripping the
players apart.
The monster blew in like a merciless storm, leaving chaos and calamity in its wake.
"We're still in this…?!"
Mii focused once more, fighting tooth and nail.
Maple Tree's goal was the destruction of the guilds swarming Flame Empire.
And to that end, they were doing their best to help Flame Empire keep their stronger
players alive.
In other words, they were here to save Mii, Marx, Misery, and Shin.
Maple Tree needed all four of them to wreak untold havoc.
And Mii had enough sense not to try and stop Maple's rampage.
Maple herself went nowhere near Mii.
Functionally, they were now fighting on the same side.
"Keep it going!"
"Okay!"
Everyone on her back hurled explosives, expanding the carnage. Maple herself just
kept trampling the armies, tearing players apart.
"Maple! Trouble that way!"
"I see it!"
Her monster form was sinister enough in the dark, but in broad daylight, it was
downright terrifying.
Enough that Maple was drawing the attention of all the large guilds.
Without any of them discussing it, they all turned their blades toward her, acting
purely on instinct.
She was a threat they had to take out immediately, even if it meant ignoring Flame
Empire.
"Oh… that's a lot of enemies!"
"Yep. Uh, Maple? Protection!" Sally squeaked.
Maple activated Martyr's Devotion, and everyone around was bathed in its light.
Even as it kicked in—
"Atrocity's down! Hngg… Hey, gimme a second!"
Seeing her spill out of the monster, the nearby players saw their chance and lunged,
only to be met by Maple's shield—and Devour. This was a good reminder that Maple
was a major threat even without Atrocity active. She quickly swallowed several foes
and then made sure everyone in her party was safe and sound.
"Everyone's good! But…"
A few seconds earlier, Sally had spotted Pain behind a tree, blade drawn. He had a
robe over his head, but there was no mistaking that distinctive glowing white
longsword.
He, too, had heard that all-out war had broken out and was here to eliminate
competition. He might not have been after them specifically, but he'd definitely shot
a glare their way.
And with all eyes already focused on Maple and tons of players clustered around
them, they were a prime target.
"Maple! Incoming! You'd better…"
"Yup! Atrocity!"
The previous day's transformation had run out, but she hadn't used today's.
The horror was reborn. And if that wasn't bad enough…
""Phantom World!""
Kanade and Sally yelled as one.
This spell created three autonomous clones of any target that would last for three
minutes—with identical stats.
And of course, their target was Maple.
There were now seven Maple monsters.
Pain hadn't been the only one waiting in the wings. Drag, Frederica, and Dread were
all present as well.
They'd all seen Maple revert to her original form and taken a step forward.
"She's worse every time I see her! Damn! Earth Splitter!"
Resignation in his voice, Drag split the ground.
Getting close to any of these Maples was far too dangerous, so he'd opted to slow
them down instead.
The holy sword's light gleamed, the ground cracked open, flames erupted, and
monsters rampaged.
Vines swarmed across the earth, spells arced through the sky, swords danced in the
air, and illusions sowed chaos everywhere.
And as devastation took its toll, the flooding light of vanishing players gave the
battlefield an eerie beauty.
"Crap! Death in every direction!"
"This is a disaster! Please, somebody make it stop!"
"Don't just stand there! There's two of them inbound!"
Some called out encouragement, while others abandoned themselves to their fate.
But Maple's clones trampled all alike.
Mere mortals could not survive the arrival of hell on earth.
One after another went down. Three minutes later, when Maple's clones finally
vanished—over half the alliance armies were gone.
But by this point, everyone had realized they could use piercing skills on her Atrocity
form and had pinged her with minor damage enough times that she was forced back
to her regular body.
The monster reared back, and Maple herself plopped out in front of the horde.
All of them readied their best skills. None of them planned to let her hit the ground.
"Full Deploy!"
But even as she fell, dozens of gun barrels sprouted out of her, aimed at the ground.
With a series of clangs, weapon after weapon appeared.
"Saturating Chaos! Hydra!"
They'd all seen enough monster maws to last them a lifetime, but Maple aimed
another right at the players beneath her, instantly wiping them out.
And Hydra came right behind, coating the ground in poison—Maple's kind of terrain.
Anyone without prodigious Poison Resist melted.
Maple had lost her monster body, but she'd always been a monster. She merely
looked human sometimes.
And that might be an understatement.
Her appearance might have improved, but she had access to far more varied attacks
and was much harder to hit.
She was a devil with the face of an angel and far more of a nightmare to deal with.
That was the conclusion nearly all her foes arrived at.
When she landed, still bristling with weaponry, she began spinning in place, mowing
down the crowds.
At the center of a lake of virulent poison, only players with Poison Nullification could
get close. Some players were casting ranged piercing spells, but her shield
neutralized them.
The allied army quickly abandoned hope. The horde surrounding her melted away as
everyone ran for it.
Maple wasn't about to let them escape that easily. There was a boom as she began
rocketing around the battlefield.
The Order of the Holy Sword may have botched their surprise attack, but Earth
Splitter tripped up everyone around them and allowed them to avoid retaliation.
Currently, they were after Flame Empire's orbs, and since all their competition were
nice enough to gather in one place, they were carving a path through them.
Pain and Dread could each wreak havoc on their own, so they were fighting
independently. Drag and Frederica were moving in tandem.
They were keeping their distance from Maple Tree, mostly because letting them
continue their rampage was rather convenient for hurting their enemies, but also
because Maple Tree members were dangerous.
"It'd be ideal if we could retreat before they target us…," Pain murmured, even as he
cut down another player.
Like Maple, fighting players below a certain threshold was more routine work than
anything else.
His mind was elsewhere, simulating a fight with Maple and picturing potential
outcomes.
He concluded that no matter what he did, if both of them were operating at their
peak, then he'd never take her down.
"I'll have to rework my build."
Pain fully intended to fight her again—when he was sure he could win.
"I'll have to find some new skills."
He glanced at her rampage out the corner of his eye, cut another player down, and
decided the tide was turning. It was time for the Order to leave.
The three guilds every team feared had all gathered in one location.
The casualties were incredible.
And all three guilds had largely avoided fighting one another, which made it that
much worse for everyone else.
When the tattered remnants of the allied army retreated, all that remained were the
Flame Empire's four leaders and the members of Maple Tree.
Chrome had been keeping the twins and back-liners safe with Cover Move and Cover,
leaving him running on fumes. Kasumi had been healing herself, and Sally never had
a problem.
And obviously, Maple was fine.
"If it weren't for these skills, I would've been done for," Chrome said, amazed to find
himself alive.
There were so many times he found his HP on the precipice, but Soul Eater, Soul
Syphon, and Battle Healing had kept it bouncing back up at a genuinely alarming
rate.
Meanwhile, Flame Empire's ranks were in tatters. They'd all used up every last trick
they had. Worse, the bulk of their roster had been eliminated entirely.
They stood no chance against Maple Tree now.
Mii knew this perfectly well. Their orb sat between Maple and her team, but she did
not even try to collect it. Flames shimmered around her…
And then there was a massive explosion.
She'd blown through the rest of her MP, copying Maple's self-destruct flight to haul
Misery, Shin, and Marx out of Dodge at blistering speeds.
The biggest different from Maple's approach was that Misery was healing her. They
cut it close, but it worked as intended.
All Flame Empire guild members had been on board with it.
To stay in the top ranks, they'd trusted the guild's future to their four brightest
flames.
And that was how Maple Tree got all their orbs back.