The assassin, bewildered that his stealth skill had been seen through, dropped his weapons as he fell to the floor, only to have a sword plunged through his left chest.
Seeing the faces filled with shock around her, Astaria pulls her sword out of the assassin and continues walking towards Iron Fist.
Clearly felling rather intimidated, Iron fist's anger rises shows as his face further contorts. With a shout, he starts to charge towards Astaria.
"If everyone else will be a bitch and not fight, I will do it myself!"
With a clear lack of experience, Iron Gist raises his weapons and blindly charges towards Astaria who remains standing in place waiting for him.
With a swift step to the side, Astaria dodges Iron Fists first wild swing, retaliating by slashing upwards and cutting his right arm off by the elbow through the gap in his armour.
With a shout of mild pain, Iron Fist's face becomes ugly as he wildly swings his remaining sword at Astaria, only for her to block it with her staff while cutting off his unguarded left arm.
With a kick to his chest and a strike to his chin from her staff, Astaria sends Iron Fist stumbling backwards as he struggles to stay upright, succumbing to the blow and falling to his knees from the concussive force. As he kneels on the floor in mental shock from suddenly losing his arms, his severed limbs spill blood all over the floor while Astaria takes the last few steps to close the gap between them.
As Astaria looks at Iron Fist, she can see him staring at the floor dazed with his teeth gritted in both pain from his wounds and what she could assume was the shame of being defeated so easily and being left without arms to defend himself.
Astaria could see that his attention was slightly drawn back to reality as her boots appear in his lowered line of sight while the cold steel tip of her sword forces his chin upwards so he is looking at her face.
Seeing Iron Fist in this position calmed Astaria's battle frenzy down and cooled her excitement, instead filling her with a feeling of satisfaction seeing someone who was trying to push their weight to bully others now kneeling in defeat, while also feeling a pang of guilt seeing how shocked Iron Fist looks after losing his arms.
As Astaria locks eyes with Iron Fist, she starts to speak in a lowered tone so only he could hear her words.
"You brought this upon yourself. You may treat this like some game, but let me be clear. It is not. Actions have consequences. If you wish to act like a delinquent bandit, prepare yourself to be hunted down like an animal."
Seeing Iron Fists face contort once again as his attention is brought away from his missing arms, Astaria leans down slightly towards him, her alluring face becoming slightly visible under her hood as she mockingly smiles.
"I know your precious little ego has been hurt, but if you spend the time to rub your two brain cells together you will realise how stupid your current actions were. Trying to intimidate a single player while in a group of over 50 people? In front of a large number of players and the city guards? It will set a bad precedent among players that not even you will be safe from. Reputation is important."
Upon Hearing this, Iron Fist starts shouting directly into Astaria's face that's only a short distance away having recovered somewhat from the shock and blow to his head.
"Who the fuck do you think you are to act like this? You probably just use your face to get others to do your bidding, filthy whore. Go fuck off to some brothel so you can suck off your simps. Useless slut of-"
As Iron Fist starts ranting, Astaria could feel her anger once again rising, eventually reaching the point where she snaps, picking the idiotic player up by the neck and moving him up to her face.
"I will say this once, and only once. Grow. The. Fuck. Up. You are not a child, so act your age and quit throwing a tantrum. My actions speak loud enough, so if you want to ignore my advice, fine, just don't implicate anyone else in your idiocy."
Closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath, Astaria shakes her head as she tries to calm herself down opening her eyes again to look Iron Fist who is struggling to get himself free from her grip while covering her robe in more blood, not wanting to get any closer to the player who cut off his arms.
"You are currently thinking you can retaliate against me, right? Making plans and letting your anger at me increase? Well, quit while you are ahead because you brought this on yourself. If in the future you or any of your friends raise a weapon against me, you will be farmed back to lv 0. I have no time for your shit."
Throwing him back to the ground as he sprawls out on his back, clearly shaken by her words, Astaria walks beside him and leans down again.
"If, however, you are able to get over this situation and mature a bit, then there is the possibility that we might be able to work together. How this ends however, is entirely up to you. I advise you think long and hard before making your decision, so take this advice from one guild master to another."
Flashing a charming smile towards Iron Fist with a menacing tilt of the head, Astaria can see him glare at her while clearly looking uncomfortable.
"Just be warned, my patience is very thin, and I don't like having to repeat troublesome things. If you decide to act out against me again, I will make you an example to anyone else. Maybe then people will learn to leave me be..."
Standing back up and looking around now having finished saying everything she wanted to, Astaria can see the remaining Iron Fist guild members looking at her with mixed expressions while the nearby onlookers silently try to hear what she was saying. Deciding to make the most of this situation, she looks back down to Iron Fist and swings her sword, separating his head so it can roll away from his body before turning to address the restless crowd.
Gesturing around her, Astaria raises her voice so everyone can hear her.
"I would advise others against this kind of behaviour. Normally the guards get involved, but since there were so many players they were waiting for more guards, and the repercussions are not nice. Just treat others how you wish to be treated yourself. It's an age old saying, but it rings true in real life as it does in game. For those thinking that robbing others is the way they wish to play, just know that you will end up in a state much worse than this group."
Looking at the silent crowd, Astaria looks over her shoulder and gives an upwards nod, knowing that Ash will know what she means before readdressing the onlookers.
"As players, we may have a little more leeway than the people of Caelus, but it has limits. Keep that in mind."
Within a few moments the other members from her group appear from the shadows and follow Astaria as she makes her way into Haligrad, the crowds of players separating to make a path for her to enter the city.
The remaining Iron Fist guild members seeing the 5 other players appearing behind Astaria pale as they see the levels of the group, involuntarily taking many steps back as they aim to avoid suffering from any more conflict and ending up dead like their other members.
As Astaria silently walks through the parted crowd, she could hear the quiet mutterings from the other players around her discussing what had just happened and the little comment she had just given. Most of the responses seemed to be positive bringing a slight smile to her hooded face.
Finally crossing the threshold of the gate, Astaria lets out a deep sigh of relief thankful there was no other drama. Now able to freely move about, she first makes her way towards the market square with her friends only a few steps behind.
"Fucking hell Chester, that was insane!"
Hearing Tyrell's exclamation, Astaria lets out a laugh as she relaxedly walks through the city's night-time streets.
"Honestly, just having access to intermediate skills won me that fight. It's amazing how predictable new players are, just running at someone. You may have experience in playing games on a screen, but as soon as you are there in person, emotions can easily take control of you and your experience is thrown out the window."
With a slight cough, Ash gives his opinion.
"You are not wrong at all, as soon as you destroyed their formation, they looked like a zombie horde running at you. It was quite funny."
Sighing, Astaria shrugs her shoulders.
"It's inevitable, even I had to get over the natural instinct. Just be conscious of how you act in a fight, treat PvP the same as you do when hunting monsters. The scenario is the same, just that players are more unpredictable. As long as you guys can keep your cool, you will be far ahead of most players for a while."
With a few murmurs of agreement, Astaria leads the group through the city streets and towards their next destination which also promises as much excitement as they experienced at the front gate.