Ryan watched the fight overhead, or the parts where they stopped and clashed. Even for a fourth realm most of the actual combat was a blur. They would just appear, their weapons would blur, then disappear and reappear somewhere else. It was easier for him to watch the projections that Gamielle was plotting.

It had been a deathless battle so far but he knew it was just luck. They were all desperately trying to pile on the damage as Pinkie’s form started bulging.

People were going to die.

Ryan turned to the Witch Tyrant.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Witch Tyrant?”

The Tyrant chuckled into her teacup. Ryan glanced down below, wondering if anyone noticed her appearing next to him.

“Don’t worry, they only see what I want them to see. But yes, I am enjoying myself.”

Ryan tried to bite back the bile. “Are you proud of plotting against someone a quarter your age? With a tenth of your experience?”

She lowered her cup, then raised an eyebrow. “Ah. You seem to misunderstand. I did not plot anything with Pinkie. Even the slightest of nudges from me would have her second-guessing everything. I have merely set the stage. You must have been the one to inspire this performance from her.”

“Fuck you. We both know that’s bullshit. You predicted all of this.”

“But I did not make the choices. That was your doing. Pinkie has been waiting for an excuse to go back to who she truly was. Then there you were. Right at the cusp of her Legend, you gave her the perfect stage to let loose. This is all your doing. Yours and hers.”

The ritual spell rose. Interconnected weaves of magical dragonbane netting rose. Homing in on the bulging draconic monster.

Pinkie cut off her own tail and threw it at the web, like certain lizards did as a defensive mechanism. The ritual spell caught onto a target and wrapped around the enormous tail. Sizzling the scales while dragging it to the ground.

Pinkie started spinning her trident in a spear stance, her tail starting to regrow in real time.

The Witch Tyrant tilted her head at him.

“Does this not fit your desires? Look at them, they’re evolving. Learning, growing, understanding.”

Ryan gritted his teeth. “She tricked me, she promised me that she was strong enough to fend off the other dragonslayers and she would hold off on killing them.”

Every single thrust was aimed to kill now. The [Lancer of the Ages] and Neil Kelly backed off with holes in their bodies. Electrified wounds making the recovery that much slower.

The Witch Tyrant smiled. “Yes. She has gotten quite good at pretending to be a person, hasn’t she?” She took a sip. “You should have seen her when I first met her. She would emulate human emotions just to hang around them. A true predator amongst the sheep.”

Fuck. Ryan had made a deal with a psychopath and he hadn’t realized.

Four tentacles sprouted out from Pinkie’s back, great bone spikes and teeth covering the flesh. They began whipping around her body, making her a massive orb of whirling death.

The more she moved away from being a dragon the less the dragonslayers could find purchase on their quarry.

Yet it wasn’t the right move. The [Lancer of the Ages] tapped the perimeter of a tentacle and made it decay. The [Blink Mage] opened a spatial tear with perfect timing, causing two tentacles to rip off. Blood splattered across the sky as the spatial tear quickly fixed itself.

Yet Pinkie seemed less annoyed and more focused. Not on the fight itself, but on something else.

Ryan was clearly not the only one getting an uneasy feeling. The dragonslayers ramped up their attacks, taking more risk than necessary.

Two arms burst out from beneath her first pair of arms. They swung blades of bone that were cutting through the air. It knocked away Kelly’s axe and the other hand grabbed a flying spear and threw it back at Donna’s head. The dragonslayer grabbed it back and returned it.

The fight began anew, the dragonslayers getting pushed back by the sudden onslaught of two extra arms that seemed capable of fighting each one of them by itself.

With every passing moment things were getting worse. The [Healer] topped himself up with a mana potion, sweat pouring from his brow. His nerves taut thin as he tried to stay alert after having lost his defensive relic.

Everyone was getting worn down bit by bit. Pinkie swung her arm to grab a [Dragonslayer Warrior] and the [Blink Mage] appeared to save him.

[Spear Art: Vorpal Tunneling].

The trident stabbed through the [Warrior] and into the [Mage]. Both bodies electrified on the end of her trident as she roared in victory. She took the trident in two hands as two of her other hands fought off the others.

She brought the frying bodies to her mouth.

[Aura Command: STOP]

“NO!”

Ryan threw everything he had stored in his arm. Some of it was the attention he had gathered from the city of Defiance. But mostly? It was the aura he’d stored from the king in the skill orb. The surge of aura was a tidal wave of authority demanding that Pinkie listen and kneel.

Pinkie raised her head in surprise, a spear stabbing into her back–which she ignored. She tilted her head at him, seemingly confused by his demands.

“You made a promise!”

Ryan tried to call upon whatever concepts he could. The Aura Tyrant, demanded obedience, the King enthralled his subjects demanding

BUT WHAT WAS A RULER TO A DRAGON?

The sudden throwback of concepts shattered his aura entirely. Destroying everything Ryan had built up as he staggered and was forced to kneel himself.

“Boy scout.” Pinkie spat.

The Witch Tyrant just chuckled lightly.

“You really should be careful when trying to tap into things you don’t understand.”

The dragon grinned and went back to bite down–

When a silver wire wrapped around her neck. A sword of light cut down on her fingers. Cutting through scales and bones all.

The woman holding the silver wire sat on Pinkie’s neck, riding the monster like she was a wild buck. The man that arrived was a demonic class. Though acknowledged by all that he kept to strict rules.

Both with classes that sounded more like monikers than roles.

[The Silver Purger] and [The Butcher of Leviathans].

“Yee’haw! C’mon bucko.”

The [Butcher] cut through Pinkie’s belly–the wound opening to reveal a twisting stretch of entrails that exploded outwards in an attempt wrap him. Neil Kelly arrived just in time to teleport him away. The [Purger] on Pinkie’s neck barely managed to dodge the spines extending out to hit her.

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“Holy shit! What kind of hell did you come from?”

She jumped off of Pinkie’s back, still holding onto her silver garrote.

“[Purification of Silver]!”

Pinkie hissed in pain. The [Butcher] saw the mess of flailing tentacles and cut through more than half of them with a skill designed to kill leviathans.

Two dragonslayers at the peak had arrived just in time.

Ryan turned to the Witch Tyrant.

She took a sip. “The adventurer’s guild took more time to deliberate than expected.”

The higher your realm, the more of the portal allocation you would take. A free zone system portal should have been able to teleport in at least five dragonslayers. That of course assumed the portal had full capacity remaining.

With the tournament going on, it was a miracle that there was enough capacity to even summon two dragonslayers at the peak. The Adventurer’s Guild must have picked these two out of all the dragonslayers they could call upon.

Ryan stared back up at the hissing dragon with a silver wire burning her neck and the [The Silver Purger] straining with the effort, trying to behead the unruly dragon. Two things stuck out to him. First, the Witch Tyrant seemed to not care that her top enforcer was starting to get butchered. Secondly, Ryan had never heard of anything that could endure the pain from [The Silver Purger].

Doubly so from an unholy abomination like Pinkie.

Yet she did not scream. Pinkie endured the pain with her eyes still clear as day. Her hands were still moving to block attacks from everyone else.

And the faintest ripples started to form in the air around them all.

Everyone understood what was happening. The dragonslayers did not flee, they did not back down. They charged.

The [Lancer of the Ages] moved in. To the middle of her exposed entrails, where monstrous shapeshifting had clearly changed the parts of her body to something not of a dragon. He stabbed forward, heedless of the reaching entrails.

[The Butcher of Leviathans] was teleported up by the [Blink Mage] and he swung.

[Kraken Slaying]

The sword of light cut all the entrails away. Leading the way. Something bubbled in the mess of flesh of Pinkie’s exposed stomach.

The [Lancer] stabbed with his final combination skill.

[Flurry stab] + [Extended Stabs] + [Aging Touch]

–And an enormous hand exploded out of the open wound. It touched the tip of the lance and shattered the skill like it was nothing. The giant hand reached out and grabbed the dwarf’s body.

It had moved far faster than anything else in the entire field.

Everyone moved to attack it. Explosions, skills, artifacts thrown causing a blinding array of explosions, yet nothing seemed to do a single bit of damage. The [Butcher] used his best skill and it shattered. Spears of melted mithril doing nothing but dripping away.

The draconic part of Pinkie’s body was almost dead, yet the giant arm and fist had taken no damage.

And the skies roiled and bent inward. Reality unable to withstand the formation of this… thing.

Ryan felt it along with everyone else.

A new Legend had been born.

Yet unlike when he experienced [Remembrance of the Fallen], there was no sense of reverence here. Just the blood boiling instinct of being in the presence of something greater than anything he could fathom.

The Witch Tyrant’s eyes sparkled in delight. She lowered her cup and started clapping.

“Magnificent. Even an imperfect manifestation of a singular arm is enough to be considered a temporary Legend.”

That enormous arm was supposed to be a Legend? A huge humanoid and slightly tanned arm was tougher than Pinkie’s scales.

Wait… I think I’ve seen that arm before.

Everyone turned to attack the body of Pinkie instead, trying to kill her instead of the seemingly impervious arm. Chunks of scales and muscles were flying off but Ryan could see her grin clearly. Her head came down despite missing half of her jaw.

And bit the head off the [Lancer of the Ages].

Ryan would never forget the crunching of bone and the words that came after. The dragon roaring in delight.

“Delicious.”

For Ryan, who knew the dwarf’s history well, it was a disaster. For the other dragonslayers? They kept fighting, continuing to flay the monster bit by bit. They’d been through greater loss before, this was part and parcel with rising as an adventurer. The giant hand let go of the crushed dwarf’s torso and flexed–it looked like it was about to take another swing–but the muscles bulged, veins flexed and–

Exploded.

Bits of gore went flying everywhere, the dragonslayers dodging in surprise.

Pinkie’s form started to shrink, no longer a dragon, but still scaled, it kept shrinking while she fought off the onslaught. The dragonslayers no longer willing to come close in case she could summon that arm again.

The Witch Tyrant nodded in satisfaction.

“Not a bad first manifestation given what she’s trying to emulate. I must admit, Ryan, I have to thank you for this.”

The Witch Tyrant clicked her fingers and pinkie was suddenly sealed in bars of light. Ritualistic chains coming along and binding her limbs. Pinkie didn’t even bother to resist, her mind was more focused on contemplating her new Legend.

“In fact, I have the perfect present for you.”

The Witch Tyrant stood up, her table and tea set vanishing. She disappeared, then manifested high above all of them. It was like the world forced you to look towards her and see. The projection screens showing her in all of her glory. A white dress and a wide brimmed witch’s hat.

She gave the dragonslayers a small bow.

“I must thank you all for delaying this monster long enough for me to finish my ritual. It is a shame about the [Lancer of the Ages] but I do consider a small favor owed to all of you. For the lives of the city.”

Ryan could hear her telepathically crooning her victory into his ears.

‘It’s interesting isn’t it? When we were rising up, the world refused to listen to the truth and labeled us Tyrants. Now I can say whatever I wish and it simply becomes the truth. Everyone else, including you, can do nothing but grind your teeth in anger.’

The Witch Tyrant in the sky then turned her head towards him.

“Now, there is the matter of this blacklisted adventurer to deal with.” The Witch contemplated for a moment. “It would be indecorous of me to simply smite a junior that hasn’t even gone through his realm evolution.”

The telepathy in his ear was all spite.

‘Did you really believe you could walk the path to the top without paying the price in blood? Did you truly think you could sit at the table and play the same game as me?’

The Witch Tyrant’s laughter rang in his ears.

There was no argument from the city below. They just looked upon the Witch Tyrant in awe. The one who had managed to entrap the monster that was about to destroy their city.

They trusted her to do the right thing, and for them, she did indeed sound like she was here to protect them.

“Even if I do smite Artigan here, who’s to say he won’t come back with his second life? Terrorize The Realm once more? Or worse, hone his claws in the shadows?”

‘Oh it was entertaining, watching you make clumsy declarations and run around, trying to find a way to win on your own terms. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you come unprepared and disrespectful. Drunk on the string of victories against your inferiors. Now you pay the price.’

Ryan tried to activate the emergency spell matrix on the back of Larix’s robes. It fizzled out uselessly. Interrupted by its very own creator. He hadn’t expected it to work, but he had to try.

The Tyrant in the air, overlooking all, threw her hand to the sky. The eternally gray skies of Sector Four began to darken further.

“This is your punishment, for the death of Gilbert, the [Lancer of the Ages]. Artigan, this curse will follow you. Even after death, even if you flee to Earth. No [Healer] will be able to fix this. No potion in The Realm will save your soul.”

‘It is the eternal question I wrestle with everyday. How to challenge those that have far exceeded their realms? How do I work around it so that they will struggle, but victory ends up becoming wholly their achievements in the end?’

The sky started darkening as all of the dragonslayers paled and backed off. The clouds spiraled together revealing a hidden ritual that had been there all along. Waiting for him to arrive.

‘Simply hexing you cannot be done, you see? Especially not if I intend for you to succeed. However, if I believe you will fail? And if this hex is a natural consequence for your actions? Then things change.’

All around Ryan his ‘actions’ appeared before him. Ghosts of his past self. Only visible to him and nobody else.

Ryan talking about how he plotted against her in Ulverra

‘Aw, did Gamielle run away to her mother?’

‘Like a dog begging for her master’s scraps’

‘…runs away like her mother does.’

‘…Adventurer’s Guild you created is worthless,’

The projections even had his realmnet comments under the account, Zahil. The very few times he had called her one of the weaker Tyrants. It finally ended with Ryan standing on top of Cerul, looking down on the Witch Tyrant with arrogance and disrespect.

The Witch Tyrant had clearly been keeping a list. Saved for this moment.

Ryan was so pissed off that he couldn’t help himself. “FallenAngel-chan indeed.”

It wasn’t like he could make his situation worse. The Witch Tyrant laughed in his ears, of good cheer and amusement.

‘I have never believed in a lack of consequences for the words you speak.’

The clouds started to gather and formed into the shape of a screaming skull. For the first time, bits of light started to peek out and shine down the once eternally gray city of Defiance.

‘Your aura is a projection of the soul. Magnified by skills, perhaps, but your achievements are what makes up the base.’

The skull was massive. Several times larger than Pinkie. It made the bound Cerul quail in fear. Ryan could not see where the mana began or where it ended. It all seemed like a natural magical phenomenon. Like the world coming down to punish him for his arrogance.

‘I have been holding onto this for a long time, waiting for someone under realm five strong enough to survive this. I had nearly lost hope–I was ready to force it into Latarro and damn the penalty in achievements.’

The black roiling skull high in the air began its descent towards Ryan and Cerul.

‘So, struggle and overcome this. Restart once more from less than nothing, claw your way back up from hell. Then sublimate. When you do, you might truly become something capable of surpassing us.”

The Witch Tyrant’s voice broke through the world.

“Crafted by a witch that once rotted a reality. Ritual of the tenth tier, [The Binding Curse of a Tortured Hero’s Soul].”

The descent of the skull created from the clouds of the dead world of Sector Four was slow. Like the ever crumbling inevitable descent of civilization. There was no running from this. The slow descent was merely the Witch Tyrant being dramatic.

Ryan closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the dead dwarf, then he took out his shattersword… and his phone.

He hit play on phase three of his theme song.

Then, above the city of Defiance. Artigan started laughing.

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