"Here they go," Andrew whispered, loud enough for Nicholas to hear. In Nicholas' office simulation, a backdrop of 100 floating screens surrounded them, with three live streams hovering in the foreground. One displayed Seraxus, another Feng, and the third showed Serenity, all capturing different angles of the same gladiator arena in Stormtop. "All the forces of light that Samantha could muster, finally working together. Your faith is in them now," Andrew continued, gesturing towards Feng’s party in an attempt to elicit a response from Nicholas. But Nicholas remained focused on the live-streams, his expression unyielding.

Jensora, Mikael, and their companions funneled into the stands of the arena. There weren't enough seats for everyone, so many sat on the stairs or remained standing—except for Jensora. He rushed to the front, pressing against the blue barrier separating spectators from combatants, eager to see his first successful mithral craft in action.

The audience's noise dulled to murmurs as Feng and Seraxus' parties walked towards the center, separated by blue walls to prevent any preemptive attacks. No words were exchanged. Seraxus, fully aware of the behind-the-scenes events of his last match, had had enough time during the intermission to catch up on other live streams. He eyed the sheathed mithral katana at Feng's waist.

The VGN broadcasters hyped up the match with their voice-amplified staves, proclaiming it as the battle of good versus evil. "Feng, the last hope," echoed through the crowd.

“Feng! Feng! Feng! Feng!” The Audience chanted. He currently held the number one streamer spot, while Seraxus' ranking fell, with Aegis, Jensora, Makaroth, Serenity, and VGN's News gaining viewers. Seraxus watched his numbers tick down, his chat a mix of supporters and detractors. He closed the chat and modified his user interface to hide the viewer count to avoid distractions.

Match begins in 10… 9… 8…

Aegis and his party watched silently, their eyes glued to the screens displaying the arena. Rakkan sat on the bench in front, elbows on his knees, fingers intertwined. Aegis paced behind him and the others anxiously.

7… 6… 5…

“Rock your heart out. We got this,” Hae-won encouraged Serenity from behind her on the raised platform. The VGN casters quieted down, making way for her as she nodded back at Hae-won. With a wave of her hands, her music began to play.

4… 3… 2… 1…

The blue walls disappeared, and Feng’s party charged toward Seraxus’ group once more.

"A mithral sword crafted in such a short amount of time ain't gonna be enough to stop me," Seraxus stomped forward. "I've spent years in game time empowerin' this sword. The number of players and NPCs I killed is beyond even my imagination," he brandished the black sword of hatred, watching as Feng’s party members swerved around him to target Seraxus' companions behind.

Seraxus didn’t care; he continued his march toward Feng, accepting his one-on-one challenge. Feng halted a few dozen feet from Seraxus, drawing his sword and taking a fighting stance, pausing only to eye Seraxus up and down carefully.

"Jensora and Aegis crafted a blade focused on durability. This sword will be enough, I promise you that," Feng smiled. He turned to look at the crowds in the stadium as Serenity’s music blasted around them. Illusionary forms of her dancing were on display, helping control the audience's mood. Now more than ever, she performed her heart out, knowing how easily the tides of battle could shift if Seraxus gained any momentum with the crowd.

"Stormtop, today is the day you will all be avenged. Puagas, and the thousands of others who have suffered at Seraxus’ hands: you will all have your souls returned to you," Feng declared, speaking more to his livestream audience than to the spectators, who could barely hear him over the music.

“You’re really confident in your abilities. That cute lil' strategy of yours, I wonder where you got it?” Seraxus taunted, but Feng didn’t reply. Instead, he rushed toward Seraxus, forming his illusions with his advanced Ronin skill.

“Ronin: Truestrike,” Feng cast, his newly made sword glowing with magical energy. Seraxus summoned his floating weapons, hovering them around his body to counter the impending strike. Ignoring the illusions, he waited for the hit to come.

Feng’s blade sliced across Seraxus' abdomen, dealing 4,360 damage. It was less than his previous mithral blade, but still significantly higher than his iron one. Feng dashed past Seraxus after the strike with evasive movements as Seraxus reacted quickly, cornering Feng with his floating weapons until he managed a strike with the Sword of Hatred.

Sure enough, Feng met the blade of hatred with perfect parry timing. The swords rang out loudly as they clashed, a wave of black energy erupting from the impact. Feng took no damage, but that was not what everyone was paying attention to. All eyes were on the mithral sword, which remained perfectly intact—it had withstood the blow. Immediately after, the arena erupted in cheers so loud that they briefly overpowered Serenity’s music.

A smug grin appeared on Feng’s face as he turned to face Seraxus once more, then charged at him a second time.

Knowing that if he did nothing, he could easily lose this match, Seraxus stopped standing idly by. Seraxus sprinted forward with his floating weapons, swirling them around and slashing through the illusions of Feng’s Ronin skill as they formed.

As he cut through the illusions, they split—only hitting the real one or having the caster deal damage could stop them from multiplying. Seraxus knew this, but somehow, Feng managed to hide his real form within the illusions perfectly.

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Seraxus took another 4,268 slashing damage as Feng reached him again, then disengaged.

“How the hell are you doing that? It doesn’t make sense. I should have hit you by now, even if only accidentally. So how, huh? You cheatin’ or some shit?!” Seraxus shouted in rage. Feng didn’t reply; he finished disengaging, turned around, and prepared to repeat the process.

Seraxus attempted to cut down the illusory forms again but failed a third time, taking an additional 4,400 slashing damage. His health dropped below 80%, and all he could do was watch as Feng turned to face him after disengaging.

“You’re just some trash leader of a Zerg guild. You’re not this good,” Seraxus snapped.

“Clearly, I am. Just accept it. I am better than you, without needing to use a sword like that,” Feng replied confidently.

They exchanged angry shouts as Feng cut down Seraxus several more times, lowering his health below 40%.

Desperation began to show on Seraxus' face. He glanced back at his party, struggling against Feng’s group, who were carefully utilizing crowd control spells to keep them locked down, preventing them from fighting back or helping Seraxus.

“This is bullshit!” Seraxus roared after Feng disengaged for the seventh time, executing his fifth perfect parry. “The only way you’d be able to hide in those illusions against all of my weapons is if…” His eyes went wide as realization struck.

Feng saw it and smirked as he prepared to engage once more.

“They told you how to move, didn’t they? They analyzed my movements and instructed you on some of my tells or somethin'. Right? That’s how you’re doing this?” Seraxus shouted angrily as Feng split into multiple copies again, charging forward and moving around his floating weapons. “This isn’t Feng versus Seraxus at all, is it?” He asked, retracting his weapons towards himself. “VGN sold me out?! I’m supposed to lose?! Is that how it is?!”

Emotions bubbled inside him—rage, anger, frustration, and finally, hatred.

Just as Feng was about to land another strike, a shockwave of black magical energy erupted from the Ebon blade in Seraxus' hand. The shockwave was so powerful that it destroyed all of Feng’s illusions, pushing him off his feet and sending him stumbling backward.

“You were never going to let me win, were you? You were never going to accept me as the number one streamer, huh?!” Seraxus raged as black mist began to flow from his blade, and his wings started to take form. Serenity’s music continued, but hatred was seeping out of Seraxus himself. “You brought me here to put on a show. You said the best player would win, but that was all a lie, wasn’t it?” He now yelled at the VGN broadcasters near Serenity on the raised platform as Serenity’s music began to die down—she saw it was not working and tried to up her efforts, sweat dripping off her as her stamina drained quickly.

“Come on. WHAT'S WRONG?! CHARGE AT ME AGAIN!” Seraxus bellowed, his black wings flapping menacingly behind him. “YOU’VE GOT ME FIGURED OUT, DON’T YOU!?” His fury caused Feng’s confidence to waver. The black abyssal mist quickly overtook the arena's ground, obscuring their feet.

“I’ve got a message for you and your boys, Makaroth and Daehyun. I quit VGN. Fuck all of you,” Seraxus smirked as his wings thickened. “Funny story about that, Stormtop,” He turned from Feng, seeing the hesitation in his eyes.

“You wanna know how I got off Puagas to attack Kalmoore? You wanna know who gave me a ride here so I could burn your pretty capital to the ground? Why, it was none other than your golden boy over there!” Seraxus pointed across the arena into the stands at Makaroth. Gasps of shock and awe rippled through the crowd as all heads turned to see the guilt on Makaroth’s face.

“Haha, yeah! He was so mad 'bout Aegis making a splash, he decided to team up with me. Isn’t that great?! So you can thank him for all the death and destruction I’ve caused since I left Puagas. He wanted me to go to Savringard and sell that island out. But don't worry, I convinced him to take me here instead. Everyone, give a round of applause to the ally of Seraxus, Makaroth!” Seraxus cheered loudly. "ISN'T THIS GREAT FUCKING CONTENT?!" He added with a roar of sarcastic rage.

Makaroth's silence in the following seconds was the final nail in the coffin. Dense, heavy air filled the stadium as hatred spread through the hearts of thousands of players and NPCs across Shattered World Online. Everyone watching the live streams of Feng, Makaroth, Seraxus, or Serenity felt a profound sense of betrayal as the truth was revealed.

Worst of all was the atmosphere inside the arena. Seraxus’ wings of hatred solidified into a pitch-black, leathery form, so dark they reflected the light. The mist emanating from his sword thickened, quickly drowning the entire interior of the arena in abyssal smoke.

The ground of the island of Tarolas began to shake, as if destabilizing. Aegis felt it from within the waiting room, recognizing it all too well—an abyssal invasion had been triggered. From the skies above the stadium, an anxious roar erupted from Ysil’mareina as she saw what no one else could: black abyssal mist creeping up on the edges of the island.

"Hae-won, you gotta do something! You gotta interrupt his momentum somehow!"

Aegis desperately shouted into his friendslist communicator at her. Hae-won got the message loud and clear, but her expression was of complete shock as well.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Hae-won replied to Aegis, flustered.

"I don't know. Deny the claims, anything!" Aegis asked her.

"I can't, literally everything he is saying is true!" Hae-won replied anxiously, then turned to see Serenity still desperately trying to regain control of the emotions inside the area. Unfortunately, despite her nearly draining her stamina to 0 with her music, she was no longer having any effect.

Kenji cancelled the illusions and put his hands on her shoulder. "Serenity."

"We have to stop this. We're so close!" She called out desperately, but Kenji tightened his grip to stop her from moving anymore, as all of her dancers had already discontinued.

When she herself stopped and looked at Kenji, he could only shake his head at her. "You're not reaching them anymore."

“Come on, Serenity. Take off more clothes. Play more music. Cheer everyone up!” Seraxus laughed at her. “Craft more weapons, Jensora,” He glared at the dwarven blacksmith, who returned a look of fear. “EVERYONE, LET'S TEAM UP AGAINST THE BIG, BAD, SERAXUS!” he snarled, swinging his black blade of hatred wide. It released a thick magical shockwave in a ring around him, hitting everyone inside the arena.

Combatant Feng has been defeated.

Combatant Sylvia has been defeated.

Combatant Laiyo has been defeated.

Combatant Zuon has been defeated.

The announcer continued, listing the names of all nine other combatants. In his empowered Avatar form, he had killed them all with a single swing of his sword.

Seraxus’ team wins the match with a score of 3-0. Seraxus’ party will move onto the next round. The Semi Finals have now concluded. A small break of 10 minutes will begin now, to give the competitors time to prepare for their upcoming match. The final match of the tournament will be between Seraxus’ team, and Aegis’ team.

Finals begin in 10 minutes.

“Don’t worry. The moment I win this tournament, I’m gonna rip all of your islands out of the sky. I don’t need an airship to fly me around. I’ve got wings now!” Seraxus cackled maniacally. “I’m going to be the number one streamer, and none of you will stop me.” With that, he stomped through the black mist and out of the arena.