Fell Champions

Otter tested her arm, and very much immediately regretted it. One arm down. That was fine. She didn’t need both arms to deal with Il-Su. But she did need one arm for the first and most important part of the task.

She pulled up her menu, and then checked the player list, before selecting one name in particular, and sending a chat request.

She felt the seconds slip by. She knew she needed to act quickly, but she needed to get this over and done with first. Luckily, the person she called actually answered their messages. 

A big goofy looking black-scaled dragon man’s face appeared on the screen. He was smeared with dirt, but not that badly. Apparently dragonkin didn’t sweat, so that didn’t cake sand on him like it had with Sami.

“Mayumi,” he said, and what approximated a smile came across his face. And then he noticed the blood, or maybe the giant hole in her arm, or maybe just her expression. 

“Otter these days,” she said, more out of reflex, and cursed herself for wasting a second saying that. “I’m not asking permission for this, Everett. I just needed to let you know… Il-Su engaged me in PVP. He ran away. I’m giving chase. I might have to kill him. I’m sorry.”

He looked like she’d just told him a grand joke, and then flickered to shock. He sobered up. “You’re serious?”

She gave a quick nod. This would’ve been easier if she’d just called Sami. Sami would’ve said exactly what she wanted to hear. But that wasn’t the point of the call. 

“No chance of talking it out?” Everett asked.

“We’re past that. He’s killed people, Ev. A lot of people. And he’s probably started a war here on the Islands. And now, he’s trying to kill someone I care about. So I’m giving you the heads up. There’s a good chance we get called to Holt’s arena soon, and either me or Il-Su are standing in the middle of it.”

“Yeah, okay.” He nodded once, and then disconnected the call. 

It ripped Otter up to see him like that. But she owed him this much at least. Just because their genitals never touched didn’t lessen the relationship between them. 

She didn’t linger. She started moving. Her initial instincts told her to head to Vex, get her away, try to protect her. But that was the wrong choice, she knew. Il-Su was a hunter, an assassin. If he had a target in mind, he would pursue. And then he’d be picking the moment and location to strike.

No, she couldn’t do that. He was wounded. Hurt. Bleeding out. If he thought he had the advantage, he’d strike sooner, while the opportunity was fresh, before retreating to heal. 

Otter spared a glance at the crowd, the swarming mob looking for something to kill. Already they’d killed a pair of Mikovians, torn the two apart before asking if what they did was justice. One of their victims hung from an improvised noose that had been strung over the balcony of a stilt house. 

She’d caused that. In Otter’s desire to weaponize the crowd against Il-Su, those two deaths – and those that followed – would be on her. Maybe this was the way it was always going to happen. But there was no way of knowing that for sure.

Otter summoned up her Thread of Sanctuary, and wove a bandage for her arm, secured in place with the weaving of the skill. Something she should’ve done sooner, but only just now thought of. 

Otter retraced her steps, going back towards the crowd, which had begun to move on looking for new targets to kill. There was no sign of Vex, and Leilynn had apparently disappeared after ripping the grappling hook free from Otter’s shoulder.

But she did find one woman, different from the rest of the crowd, bent over the ground and leaning on a spear for support. She looked thoughtful. Determined. And like she saw something that no one else did. But most of all, she didn’t look mad with rage like everyone else. She looked focused. 

Was this the woman that had wounded Il-Su? Otter’s blood loss wasn’t hitting her as hard now that her Tenacity was back up, but events were a little jumbled in her head. Yeah. She thought she remembered a name being shouted.

“Reyna,” Otter called. “I’m–”

“Otter,” the woman said, running her fingers along the surface of the packed dirt ground. “We’ve met.”

“We have?”

Reyna grunted, “Kind of.”

“I’m hunting Il-Su, and–”

Reyna stood, and then lifted her fingers up for Otter to see. They were slick with blood. “Then stop talking and follow me. I have his trail.”

*-*-*

Il-Su managed to keep his stride steady, even though every part of him wanted to collapse and just take a nap. But he had a window, a small one, to deal with Vex. She was going to be a recurring problem, he knew. That was twice now she’d shown up to foul his plans, and what was worse, she looked like she was holding a grudge. 

You had to nip that kind of thing in the bud early. His traditional way of doing so had always been to assert dominance. Wait for his opponent to be weak, and then destroy them as thoroughly and publicly as possible. Put it on ViewToob, and let everyone know what it meant to cross the Bringer of the Long Quiet. 

But this was different. She was on the playerlist. She was a person, somehow. Not one of the original hundred. He had no idea how she’d been added to the list, but he suspected she was some kind of plant inserted by Holt.

If he killed her, she’d go to Holt’s arena. She’d be able to make short work of whoever Holt put her up against. It wouldn’t be like he was really killing her. Just letting her know not to mess with him, and stay out of his way. 

Ri Oa didn’t have traditional alleys like most fantasy cities. You didn’t worry about hiding between buildings here. No, in this city it was a matter of hiding in the shadow underneath buildings. 

There was a stink of stagnant water and sea brine, but also the scent of street vendors and their food. As far as city smells went, Ri Oa wasn’t terrible. It was actually kind of pleasant in comparison to many he’d been to. If only everyone wasn’t trying to kill him, he might’ve actually enjoyed his stay. 

He moved from shadow to shadow with a slow gait, more by instinct than anything else. He was shielded from sight courtesy of his Voidcloak, but something nagged at him. Something was off, and he couldn’t figure out what it was.

His menu chirped at him, a call trying to demand his attention. Messages could just be ignored, but calls were a bit more annoying. This was the third time he was forced to dismiss whoever this was, closing the connection without answering. Probably Mayumi. He’d talk to her later, when things had settled down a bit.

He gripped his arm as he went, and could feel his blood fleeing him as if it were in a hurry to be anywhere else. Even his blood had an exit strategy. The thought made him smile, and almost laugh. Almost.

He’d been tailing Vex for three blocks, if the organization of this city could be allocated into such a measurement. She stuck to the streets, alternating between hopping and shuffling. She would be so easy to pick off. He just needed to wait a little while longer, when he was certain that no one was watching. His Voidcloak wouldn’t drop just from throwing a few knives, but there was no point in risking being spotted. He wasn’t the best because he took unnecessary risks. 

She had to be heading back to the mansion, or whatever that massive complex of interconnected stilt houses that Rua Hyleah lived in was called. He was tempted to head her off. Sit waiting at the entrance, and just as she thought she’d hit safety, put three knives in her spinal column before confirming the kill. 

Yes. That would work. He eyed Vex predatorily, and then took two steps forward before falling flat on his back.

The weight of his Voidcloak stopped him from feeling the noose as it’d settled around his neck. He only felt it when it pulled tight, snapping closed and then yanking him from his feet. 

He struggled to stand, and had to drop his Voidcloak just to do so. He whirled, gripping the golden wire he knew was Mayumi’s signature ability, and jerked it taut, then whipped a knife out and sawed at the thread holding him.

The golden material resisted his cut. It wasn’t particularly thick, but it felt like trying to slice through steel. He sawed at it in a few shaky jerks, and only got a few bright sparks for his efforts.

He broke off his attempt, dodging a thrusting spear aimed at his leg, stepping back as far as he could given the noose around his neck. 

Both Mayumi and the woman from before with the big mouth, the failed bodyguard of Juala, were attacking in tandem. He could take them individually. Together might be a problem.

Unless he just quickly removed one from the fight.

Mayumi’s Tenacity was out, but he also knew the bodyguard had none to speak of when he’d put her down the first time. He liked Mayumi more. There wasn’t even a decision to be made there.

He drew a knife and flicked it out in a quick toss, right at the bodyguard’s neck. If she saw it coming, she didn’t react in time.

It pinged off a shield, deflecting to the side from an invisible force.

“Got upgraded with the respawn, I see,” he growled. 

She didn’t have that before. Stupid game, making old fights more challenging on the second go-around. A classic staple in the industry. Il-Su should’ve seen it coming. 

The bodyguard thrust again with her spear, and he shifted his body, but Mayumi jerked the line around his neck, pulling him into the attack. He was just squirrelly enough to arch his spine and twist just enough that the spearhead only grazed his stomach instead of getting impaled. 

He looked between the two like a cornered animal. He knew when he was beaten. He didn’t like it, but there it was. 

He raised his good arm up. “I surrender.”

“We’re way past that, bud,” Mayumi said, and he could see the heat in her eyes.

“So, that’s how it is?”

“That’s how it is.”

He didn’t bother waiting for an additional explanation. He hooked three throwing knives from his bandolier, one in between each pair of fingers, and got to throwing while trying to keep his distance from that spear. 

Mayumi kept jerking him every which way, but he kept an eye on her body language. She wasn’t accustomed to this fighting style, and telegraphed which direction or the other she’d pull with how she shifted her body weight. Every time she did, he was prepared.

He couldn’t pull off his usual acrobatics. And he was tired. But he was still good enough to stay ahead of them.

But that was the problem. All he was doing was staying ahead of them. He couldn’t win that way. 

He stopped targeting the bodyguard, and started going for Mayumi. All three of his new daggers went for her, one after the next, but that damned bodyguard intercepted them with her own body, taking the hits.

Her Tenacity kept up. She had to have higher than baseline Tenacity. She’d invested a lot in it in a short amount of time. 

Kir had told him that the only ‘legal’ way to get soul power outside of war or self-defense was the execution lists. If you signed up and were approved by one of the Seats, you could get dispensation to kill a condemned criminal and harvest their soul crystal. 

The fact that she seemed to have so much really lent credence to his ‘boosted NPC’ theory. How could Otter be so absolutely deluded by Holt’s lies?

It was almost like the game itself was plotting against him. For all he’d bragged to Mayumi that she was a bad matchup against him, a tank or warrior-type who just didn’t go down quickly was a bad matchup for him. He’d only survived against Vex and Juala because Vex was clearly new to combat, and Juala had been prone to reckless mistakes. 

He drew more knives, and threw more knives. He spared a little time between each attack to clip at the thread looped around his neck, but it was absolutely refusing to give. 

If Mayumi had both arms able to move, she would’ve been able to summon a second one. It was the only thing saving him. 

“Not too long now, limpdick,” the bodyguard growled. “You’re out of breath.”

It was true. He was exhausted. And blood loss was definitely getting to him. He would’ve retreated ages ago if not for this noose. 

He normally wouldn’t have bothered responding. Talking during a fight was for lesser fighters. He preferred to maintain his focus. But an idea came to him.

“You kill me,” Il-Su said, “and I end up in Holt’s arena.”

Mayumi’s eyes narrowed at that.

He continued, “Whoever I kill to get back into the game, that death is on your head. And then, I come for you, I come for the little redhead, I come for Sami, Everett, all of them. Everyone you care about. I’ll even come for whoever this Rua is. I’ll–”

He cut off with a grunt. He staggered back a second, and then looked down. A knife, one of the ones Mayumi had been carrying on her own belt, was buried in his belly.

Her throw had been quick, but clumsy. She must’ve done it with her wounded arm. Even so, she’d still hit with enough force to drive the blade into his guts. 

“Your own poor life decisions are on you,” Mayumi said. 

He fell backwards and onto the ground. He must’ve hit a puddle, because he was suddenly soaked through. 

He raised a hand imploringly. “Mayumi.”

“My name is Otter,” she growled, and kicked him.

He flinched away, tried to roll and crawl, got onto his knees and one hand, but he moved right into the bodyguard’s reach. She kicked him. Hard. Right against the knife hilt buried in him. 

He fell, and only just managed to do it on his side, as opposed to landing his full body weight on that blade. 

“That felt good,” the bodyguard said. “Been meaning to fulfill a promise on this one.”

Il-Su let out a low scream as he felt a blade sink directly into his buttocks.

“Just… just finish him off,” Mayumi said. “He was like a brother to me, once.”

He tried to look at her, but couldn’t find her face in his increasingly blurring vision. Those words hurt more than anything else they’d done to him so far.

Some ball of sadness hit him in the gut. The knowledge he’d not only never have her, but that she’d never been available to him at all. He was just a friend to her. Nothing more.

Fury replaced it.

No. No, this wasn’t how it was going to end. Even struck down as he was, pincushioned twice and bleeding out, he wasn’t going to die like this. He would die like a man, and then come back with a bloody vengeance.

He struggled to rise.

And then the impossible happened.

Both Mayumi and the bodyguard collapsed.

They did so bonelessly, with no resistance. They went from standing to falling, as if someone had pulled their batteries out and left them to die. 

Their eyes were open, staring sightlessly into the distance, but both still breathed. He could feel the adrenaline surging through him, knowing that somehow, he’d won. He’d live another day.

How had he pulled that off?

And then a figure flickered into existence before him, as their own Voidcloak dropped, and he stared into the eyes of his secret patron. The one who’d helped him plan his way around Kir’s enslavement of him. The one who’d ordered Juala’s murder. His real patron and benefactor, the one who Holt had directed him towards for salvation. The one piece of truth that man had spoken.

Sureya reached a hand out towards Il-Su, and he clasped it readily.

“You’re lucky you’re worth the effort,” she said. “Let’s go. I can’t keep them down forever.”

He struggled to get to his feet, and to then stay on them once he got there. 

“Better… better to kill them both,” he said. 

She gave him an incredulous look. “They’re Silayans. I do not murder my kind lightly.”

He snorted at that. In the week he’d known her, she’d had him consign three prominent Silayans to convenient ‘accidents,’ to say nothing of Juala. 

“We need to leave,” she said. “In the chaos, you’ll just be another person in the crowd, injured from the riots. No one is looking for you, outside of these two.”

He gestured vaguely at the blade in his stomach. She sighed, pulled it out, and placed a hand on the wound. His skin felt hot for a moment, followed by a cold sensation, and then it was mended. She did the same with his arm, and the wound in his buttock. 

“Making me use half of what I had stored,” she said with a sigh. “Now, come along. We have much to accomplish together in the coming days.”

End of Arc II

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!