by Dante Doom
"You really think that you can kill me, don't you?" the Emperor boomed as it unleashed another torrent of flames towards Van. Thanks to his flight speed, however, he was able to dodge out of the way. He darted toward the beast's back, his right hand grabbing another hook from his belt.
"I don't think I can kill you," Van said. "I know I can!"
"This is why I like you humans!" the Emperor replied as it slashed its claws at Van, turning to prevent him from reaching its back. "Even in spite of your lack of power, you remain cocky and crazy." The dragon's claws raked hard against Van's flesh.
"Argh!" Van gasped as the words 250 damage hovered above his head. But while that had been a solid hit, Van knew that the Emperor was still holding back. This whole thing was nothing more than a game to him. Perhaps the Emperor was still counting on Van joining him.
Despite the blow, Van managed to throw his hook through one of the small holes in the dragon's wings. These holes were on just about every dragon's wings, and were probably designed to help the wings be more aerodynamic. He had played a dragon hunting campaign back when he'd been Sivlander, though, and knew the ins and outs of killing a dragon. The only problem was that he had never killed a dragon as big and as strong as the Emperor.
Right as the hook snagged the wing, the words Spell Effect: Flight has expired hovered in front of him. He grabbed the rope and swung down as gravity began to work on him again, dragging him down. The speed of the fall gave him enough momentum to swing around the red dragon and land atop its back, though. And with his warhammer at the ready, he gave a tremendous heave and swung it hard against the right wing of the Emperor. Joint Strike 500 damage hovered above the dragon.
"So, you know where to hit a dragon, do you?" the Emperor shouted as he thrashed around. Despite his intimidating size, he couldn't maneuver his arms behind his back on account of the fact that he was a dragon and didn't have such flexibility.
"Well, I've killed plenty of your kind before!" Van shouted back as he wound up his hammer for another swing. The timer on his Fierce Rage was dropping down now, and once it reached zero, Van knew he would be out of the fight for a few minutes. Would he be able to kill the Emperor before that happened?
"Hahaha, do your worst!" the Emperor called out. The dragon next shouted out in an ancient tongue that caused his skin to rapidly turn into stone. Van swung his hammer again, smashing against the stony coating that had wrapped around the wings. Despite being made of skin, the dragon continued to fly.
Critical Damage prevented by spell 100 damage reported the UI. Crap. Even with Van's Fierce Rage, an extra buff spell would prevent him from doing special damage to weak spots.
"Fredlin!" Van shouted at the top of his lungs. "I need a dispel, now!"
The chaos on the ground had grown worse since Van had last checked on everyone. A few more dragons had arrived – three brown ones and a large purple one with long black horns curling out of the side of its head. Van's army was busy roping and fighting against them, but it was absolute chaos. Fredlin was nowhere in sight.
"Hahahaha," the Emperor laughed, shaking with each chuckle. "You really don't get it? There are hundreds of us in the royal court; you think that they won't defend me?"
"I don't have to kill all of them!" Van shouted. "I just have to kill you!"
"How, Van? How do you proport to kill me?" the Emperor replied as he began to fly backwards towards the wall. Van gripped the ropes and pressed his legs against the dragon's back, bracing for impact. The emperor crashed backwards into the wall, smashing Van's body in the process. The wall cracked and cratered as the dragon repeated this maneuver multiple times. Each time Van was hit, he took 100 points of damage. He continued to hold on, though, gritting his teeth as he watched his hit points trickle down to 1,500. This was not what he wanted to see at all.
"Had enough yet?" the Emperor shouted with a chuckle.
Van let go of the rope and kicked his legs off the dragon, swinging himself around to the side, where he would be safe from the slamming. As he swung, he brought his warhammer down against the ribcage of the dragon, but his weapon bounced off due to the stone spell. Even with his amped up powers from the rage, Van just didn't have a chance of killing the dragon while the stone spell was still activated. He kept thwacking his hammer away at the dragon, though, over and over again, and sent a desperate message to Sang for help. Maybe she could find the wizard.
Sang slid underneath the dragon, firing arrows upwards as it stomped over her. The arrows sank into the brown beast's soft underbelly and she could see the beautiful words of Critical Strike Lethal Blow hover above her head. The dragon roared in agony and she barely managed to roll out from underneath of it before it collapsed. The loud crash of the beast sent shockwaves through the ground. As she scrambled up to help the rest of her team, a message rushed to her.
"We've got to change tactics here. The Emperor is staggering his forces to exhaust our team. No one else really matters – he's the main guy in charge. Figure out some way to get people attacking him. And tell Fredlin I need him counter-spelling the Emperor's magic. He's not responding to any of my messages."
Sang glanced at the chaos surrounding her. The dragons were still pouring in, regardless of how many the Iron Dragons were able to kill. Things were rapidly falling apart. Still, if the Emperor was really the only target that mattered, she'd have to figure out some way to rally the crew without getting them killed.
"Sahara!" Sang shouted as she reached into her quiver for some more arrows.
"Yes, ma'am?" Sahara responded in between hacking away at the scales of another brown dragon that was only a few feet away from Sang.
"I need you to run a message to the rest of the team," Sang said. "We're changing up tactics. Stop killing the smaller dragons and focus only on the big red one. Tell them to drink their potions of piercing and start attacking him."
"Why don't you just send a mass message?" Sahara asked.
"I'm delegating that to you, so do it however you want, but just make sure people start moving toward the Emperor," Sang said. "I'm gonna go find Fredlin."
Two torrents of flames from two different directions came crashing down upon Sang then, but her Potion of Fire Immunity merely caused the flames to do 1 damage total to her. She chuckled as she rushed off into the fray, in the hopes of finding Fredlin. Where was he?
Chapter Fourteen
Fredlin surveyed the warzone that had been a dining area just a few short minutes before. The Iron Dragons were triumphantly fighting against the dragons, Van was busy trying to handle the Emperor, and just about everyone was focused on figuring out some way to bring the entire game down for good. The fate of the world didn't much matter to him, though – not that he didn't care about others, but when his dear friend had died, he'd lost all capacity to feel anything but anger and a desire for revenge.
And he was close. All of these dragons were supposedly members of Draco, the organization that had killed the only woman he had ever loved. The worst part, Fredlin thought as his hands tightened around his staff, was the fact that he'd never been given the chance to tell her how he felt. Words unsaid were perhaps worse than any insult or unkindness that could be said. Anger welled up in his stomach once again as he watched the battle continue endlessly. He heard muffled shouts for his help in the background, but what did it matter? Until the code was activated, no one was in real danger. No one would die. These wretched Draco wouldn't die.
Fredlin swallowed a little as he looked at the item in his inventory. It was a small, round orb that had the name of ERROR_NOT_FOUND. This was the key to punishing Draco once and for all. Every major member of the Iron Dragons held such a device in their inventory. Sang had created them with the help of Jet. The plan was extremely strict, though: no one was to activate this device until the Emperor was close to dying. But things had changed so rapidly. The dragons were continuing to pour in and the Iron Dragons would never be free to fight against the Emperor alone. He knew that Van was trying to k
ill the creature, but he would have little luck one his own.
The orb glistened in Fredlin's hand as he stared at the chrome ball. Everyone had an extra as a back-up, but it was Van who was supposed to give the order to activate the device. But things were changing, weren't they? He could hear the bellowing laughter of the Draco fighters in the background, even as a few of them died; after all, there were no consequences for death right now. This whole event was nothing more than an amusing diversion to these jerks.
Fredlin growled a little as he watched a bright yellow dragon slink down to the ground, wounded from several thousand blows. The beast was roaring defiantly and mocking the Iron Dragons for their decision to fight against him. He wouldn't suffer, and he wouldn't be in agony; instead, he would just reappear somewhere else. The yellow monster would probably be laughing to himself the whole way back to the battlefield.
"No…" Fredlin whispered as he wrapped his fingers around the ball. All he needed to do was squeeze the item hard, and it would unleash the code that would turn the entire area lethal. Then that dragon would know true terror, for there would be no coming back.
"There you are!" said a familiar voice behind Fredlin. He froze and slowly turned around to see Sang standing with her hands on her hips. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Van needs you counter-spelling that freaking Emperor ASAP."
"Right, uh, right," Fredlin said. He had dropped his right hand to his side, trying to conceal the sphere from Sang's vision.
"What are you up to?" Sang asked as she glared at him a little. Fredlin didn't particularly mind Sang, but she was a sharp woman. If she was asking him this question, it was because she had already figured it out.
"You know what I'm doing," Fredlin replied as he held his hand up, revealing the orb. "I’m gonna turn this thing on."
"You can't do that!" Sang said, shaking her head furiously. "If you activate it now, it'll freak out the Emperor and he'll bail."
"If I don't, these dragons will overrun us. I doubt they'll be so willing to fight when they know they could die."
"You don't understand," Sang replied, "the Draco are a collective. They don't have a problem dying for the good of the many. Your activation would do nothing but mess it all up."
"Collective? What the hell are you talking about?" Fredlin asked. "These are just a bunch of freaking neckbeards sitting at home and acting like they have real power. Well, I'll show these nerds what's what."
Sang frowned. "Fredlin, I don't have time to explain all of this to you, but you've got to know that your plan won't work. The clock is ticking right now, and we're rerouting our forces to attack the Emperor. You're the highest level wizard we've got, so please – use a few spells to stop the Emperor's protection power and we can win this."
"I don't think you get it, Sang," Fredlin replied as he wrapped his hand around the orb. "I've already made up my mind. We're killing some members of Draco today!"
"Don't!" Sang shouted, lurching toward him, but she was too late. Fredlin crushed the sequence activator. A bright flash lit up the entire area for a split second and the words Lethal Feedback has been authorized in this area appeared high in the air in bright red letters.
All of the fighting ceased for a brief moment as everyone, the dragons included, looked at the letters. They stared upward in silence until there was a loud shout from a player that was followed by the very realistic sounds of a dragon screaming as it died. Chaos broke out again.
"See? No one's running!" Sang shouted. "I should kill you for this!"
"For what? Having the guts to actually end this?" Fredlin replied as he shook his head. "Come on – let's get to Jet. It's time to win this damn thing."
"You're going to regret this," Sang said as she shook her head. "I guarantee it."
"What's one more regret to add to the list?"
Van was hanging on the side of the dragon's leg, refusing to let go. The Emperor was roaring and bellowing as it tried unsuccessfully to shake him off. The fight was getting exhausting for everyone, and the clock on Van's Fierce Rage timer had expired. Now he was exhausted, fatigued and immobile for 5 minutes. Fortunately, he had managed to grab onto an area of the dragon where it couldn't reach him and he was holding on for dear life. The Fierce Rage power would reset soon, he knew, and he would be able to fight freely once again at that point.
"Hahaha, you made quite the gamble with that power," the Emperor said as it ceased fighting and thrashing. "I am pleased with you, Van."
"Go to hell!" Van replied.
"Ahahaha, truly, you are a poet," the Emperor replied. "Are you ready to discuss terms now?"
Maybe Van could run the clock on his inability to move by talking to the dragon for a while. He made a point of letting out an obnoxious sigh. "Alright, what do you want from me?"
"The better question is, my friend, what is it that you want from me? What would it take to get you to join me in my cosmic quest to conquer the universe?"
"A million dollars," Van replied.
This response elicited more laughter from the Emperor. "I love your sarcasm so much. You know the word 'sarcasm' comes from the word 'Sarcos', which means 'to cut'. I learned that in my millennia of studying your culture."
"I didn't realize you were an English teacher," Van answered. "Now I understand why you're evil."
"Another joke," the Emperor said, but without a chuckle this time. Van could hear a twinge of frustration in his voice. "When will you tire of jocularity? Look out at your forces – they are entangled in an endless mess. You have no back-up here. Your best efforts have failed. Why cling to death in spite of what I can offer you? Tell me what you want, Van."
"I really just want to keep my people alive," Van replied. "Maybe you don't get it because you've spent your whole life fearing your own kind and then choosing to subdue them, but most races would prefer to keep the members of their species alive. Even someone in a remote village, someone who I will never see… I would rather he stay alive than die right now."
"Feh," the Emperor grunted, "but you must enlighten me, Van, because I don't understand why you care. Why care about someone who isn't you? Especially when there is nothing you can do to save them."
"We call it morality," Van replied. He felt a glimmer of hope here, coming with the dragon's seeming willingness to listen. Perhaps the Draco simply didn't understand human morality due to their collectivist viewpoints. Maybe he could make a good point that would change the Emperor's mind.
"Morality – ah yes, of course. Good and evil and all of that," the Emperor replied. "An outdated system if I have ever heard of one. The base assumption of morality is that everyone plays by the same rules. We all agree that murder is bad, but does that stop a murderer? Morality is nothing more than an invention meant to make you feel safe in a cruel and callous world."
"That's not true," Van replied. "Morality is a base human instinct. We all follow some kind of moral law."
"And so that governs you? You let morality control you? You are as much a slave as these Draco are to their own foolish ideals. I made a choice a long time ago, Van, to never let anything control me. Nothing owns me. I am free and it is a glorious thing. I'm asking you to wake up here. You will gain nothing by following this system. In fact, you will lose everything if you do follow your conventional morality. The moment you defeat me is the moment that this game ceases to exist for all eternity. Your home, Van. It will be gone, all because you chose conventional morality because it was the right thing to do," the Emperor mocked. He was a little too gleeful with his own words for Van's taste.
"I'm not doing something because its arbitrary," Van said. "There are people on this planet who I care about. Sang, for one."
"So what? Bring her, too," the Emperor said. "I quite like Sang. I've gone back and forth on recruiting her directly, but decided against it when she kept pressing on after I sent that suicide agent after her. I figured that would dissuade her, but no, it didn't."
"I doubt Sang would come with me," Van rep
lied. Then, he stiffened at hearing his own words. He hadn't meant to say that… he'd meant to say that he would never join the Draco. Why had he said that instead?
"So? Leave her, then. Leave this whole world behind and come join a new one. You can even recreate your own planet if you like, in a simulation. You could be the star of your own sitcom, a world where no one ever gets terminally ill… a world where you always have a good time. You could create your own heaven, Van."
Van glanced at his timer. Holy crap, his plan was working. He had about thirty seconds left on his exhaustion. He couldn't believe this had worked so well. Apparently, the Emperor liked to hear himself talk more than anything.
"You know what?" Van asked the Emperor. "There's more to life than leisure. More to life than pleasure. I've spent a great deal of my life avoiding anything close to work. Ironically, I've spent the last three months of my life working harder than I ever have. It's shocking, honestly. But it's also been the most fulfilling experience I've ever had. I'm not going to join you, no matter what you offer me."
"You say that," the Emperor replied, "but let's see how you feel once there is no hope of winning."
"If I can't win, then I'll go down with the ship!" Van said, his voice lifting into a shout at the end of the statement as he felt energy surge back into his body. The effects of the Fierce Rage were finally over, and now he would be able to move and fight again. Mobility never felt so good.
"Oh, you were just distracting me, weren't you?" the Emperor realized. "My goodness, do I feel embarrassed. It's just rare to talk to another being that has independence and the ability to think for itself. Well, good on you for pulling one over on me. Not like it's going to help."
Van grabbed his warhammer and readied for another round of fighting. He only hoped that Sang would be able to find Fredlin soon.
"I suppose you're going to want to keep crawling around and poking at me in the hopes that you'll find my weak spot, one which will kill me instantly?" the Emperor commented. "Very well, let us resume our – " his words were interrupted as a bright flash came across the entire room.
