Spiteful Healer

Chapter 279: Desperate Counter

“I forgive you. I know it’s not your fault. The sword is making you act like this.” Aegis whispered into Seraxus' ear as he leaned in and gently nestled his chin on his shoulder.

“What the fuck? Let go of me.” Seraxus freaked out at Aegis’ embrace and frantically lost his composure, struggling free and pushing Aegis back. He managed to do so, though, then looked on at Aegis in disgust.

“Did he just hug you?” Zuon laughed mockingly.

“He hugged you, man.” Hajax joined in.

“Are you gay or something? I ain't gay, bro. Nothin wrong with that but, c’mon what the fuck?” Seraxus blurted out in disbelief, trying to recompose himself as everyone nearby watched with wide eyes of confusion, save for Aegis companions who seemed to be aware of what was going on.

“Yumily,” Aegis turned to face her. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but you’re his hard counter, it’s why he’s harassing you. You’re the only one that’s going to be able to stop him.” He explained quickly.

“Tch.” Seraxus sucked his teeth at this comment.

“Huh?” Yumily was dumbfounded by the scene unfolding before her.

“Allow me to explain.” Aegis quickly walked over to her voice-amplified microphone, but he was stopped by Seraxus as he dashed forward with weapons drawn.

“Don’t go thinkin’ ya’ll can ignore me just because you got a shield.” Seraxus growled, forcing Aegis to quickly spin around and throw up his shield and block a strike from the black sword. Another shockwave of black and white erupted from the point of impact, sending a forceful gust of air outward that made it difficult for those nearby to remain composed.

The sudden desperation on Seraxus’ face was unnerving to most - particularly Mikael who was watching the fight from a distance.

“He’s afraid? What’s he afraid of? I’ve never seen him fight like this.” Mikael said with wide eyes.

“Then let's go, eh?” Mightymira grinned before releasing her hand, which had been on his shoulder, to dash forward. Following her, all of Schadenfreude’s gladiator team leapt down from the stands and into the arena, charging across it to reach Yumily’s stage. Makaroth, however, hesitated upon seeing Aegis and his group appear and instead turned to Calikgos.

“They’ve only got a few minutes to check-in. Send the rest of our guild to block off the check-in NPCs around the arena…” Makaroth whispered to him so that only he, Synopse and Liyla could hear.

“No, don’t. Stop this stupid shit, man.” Synopse shouted back in annoyance, grabbing Calikgos’ to stop him from carrying out Makaroth’s instruction. “First of all, look,” Synopse pointed at Aegis across the arena in front of them as he blocked several more strikes from Seraxus, and Pyri, Rakkan and Darkshot jumped in to deflect and block attacks from Seraxus’ companions. “He’s already predicted you would try to do that, that’s why his Shadow Dancer isn’t there. Most likely, she’s already checking them in…” Synopse explained, and as he did, Lina suddenly appeared through several shadow steps, using the shadows of the pillars in the arena to quickly move from the lower arena entryway to reach the stage where Aegis was, so that she could join in and start helping them out.

“Did you check us in?” Aegis asked her.

“Yup.” Lina smiled proudly before drawing out daggers and warping behind Hajax, but was intercepted by a quickly moving Gambit.

Seeing and hearing this exchange from a distance, Makaroth clenched his fists angrily and glared at the stage.

“See?” Synopse sighed and shook his head.

The exchange between Aegis’ group and Seraxus’ group was chaotic, as it was clear Seraxus was acting frantic, having lost his cool at the appearance of Aegis’ shield and knowing what Aegis was trying to do. When Mikael’s group arrived, the battle quickly turned in favor of Aegis’ group. Mikael timed a large swing of his greatsword to hit Seraxus’ back just as Aegis had blocked one of his strikes, followed by Jeremax sending several ice lances at Seraxus and Mightymira hitting him with a smite - all of their attacks were focused on Seraxus and ignored his party members entirely.

“Hah,” Seraxus shouted triumphantly as he saw the minuscule damage numbers appearing around his body as a result of the attacks. He stopped charging aggressively at Aegis and just stood mockingly, glaring at him. “So what? You can block my attacks. That don’t mean shit. Ya’ll still can’t hurt me.”

“He’s right.” Aegis shouted loudly, waving his companions to cease their attacks. Rakkan promptly disengaged his echoes, Pyri pulled back her cinderbolts, Lina shadowstepped behind him, and Darkshot lowered his bow. With these actions, Mikael’s group also stepped back, but kept their weapons drawn.

“Like I said. You wasted your flashy entrance for nothin’. I dunno how you got here, but it doesn’t matter. That shield ain't gonna save you, carebear.” Seraxus crossed his arms and smirked smugly at Aegis and his companions.

“Well, hold on now…” Aegis shook his head. “I haven’t even finished my flashy entrance yet. You’re right that we can’t hurt you, but…” Aegis snapped his fingers and pointed upwards as a large shadow was cast over the stage suddenly, which grew rapidly in size. Everyone in the arena looked up and saw what it was - a Large, silver dragon whose scales shimmered in the sunlight, with a strange-looking, oversized saddle fastened to her back around her wings.

[Ysil’mareina, The Silver Dragon(Elite) - ??] was hovering above her head, her wings pulled into a dive but spreading out at the last minute to slow herself down as she crashed her gigantic talons into the tiled floor of the arena in front of Yumily’s stage. Her impact caused a great explosion of dust and smoke to fly outward, shaking the very ground they stood on as the sand cleared out. Her front and back legs created four giant imprint craters on the arena floor.

Immediately upon landing, she spread her wings wide and extended her long, scaly neck upwards, angling her jaw down towards Seraxus and opening it wide to show her many razor-sharp fangs, then released a deafening roar that drowned out all other sounds in the immediate vicinity. The roar itself had such a force behind it that it too created a gust of wind that caused everyone on the stage’s clothes and hair to flap violently.

“She can.” Aegis pointed at Ysil’mareina with a big dumb grin.

“You’re not the only one that can ride a dragon,” Darkshot added in his deepest, most theatrical voice ever.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” Hae-won called out from atop the saddle on Ysil’mareina’s back. In Hae-won’s hand was a staff with a voice amplification enchantment on it, causing her voice to echo out across the entire arena. “What a surprise…” She waved her hands out and paused briefly, allowing everyone to spot her and turn their eyes onto her.

“After putting in so much effort to stop us from participating in this tournament, I can hardly believe how happy you all seem to see us arrive here. I see nothing but smiles on the faces of even our greatest enemies!” Hae-won motioned towards the gathering of Gladiators on the far side of the arena, where Feng, Makaroth, Daehyun and the others all stood. “My my my, Seraxus, you’ve been quite the naughty boy. Everyone truly hates you, even your VGN buddies.” Hae-won spoke condescendingly down to him.

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“But, have no fear, everyone. The Savior of Arallia, the Protector of Kalmoore, the Harbinger of Light, and Champion of Eirene has arrived!” Hae-won cheered out excitedly at the top of her lungs causing many of the audience members to suddenly erupt into cheers - primarily the Tarolas NPCs, but many players as well.

As she spoke, Aegis turned his attention back to Yumily, doing his best to capitalize on the distraction that Hae-won was providing him.

“Yumily, list-”

Seraxus was having none of it, and prepared to charge at him again, forcing Aegis to turn around with his shield drawn defensively.

“Hae-won, I need you to explain it, he’s not going to let me.” Aegis shouted up to her as she stood on the dragon’s back, while Ysil’mareina didn’t hesitate in swiping one of her talons down at Seraxus and his party, forcing them to jump backwards to avoid the strike as it crashed through the section of the wooden stage they’d been standing on.

“Of course, you always need me, don’t you?” Hae-won replied playfully, her voice still obnoxiously louder than anything else. “Alright everyone, you may have come here expecting to just witness a gladiator tournament, but instead, believe it or not, you’ll all need to be participants. Because in order to stop Seraxus, we have to work together.” Hae-won cleared her throat and turned to look at Yumily, but couldn’t stare at her for long as her face blushed red with excitement.

“Like the Avatar of Jealousy whose power grows in the presence of those who are jealous and envious - so too does the power of Seraxus’ sword grow the more you hate him. When he awaked his sword by killing the Great Prophet of Zeus, this power growth became exponential. In his current state, he truly will be unbeatable, especially with those extra wings. But, all of us,” Hae-won flinched briefly as a black wave of dark abyssal magic shot out at her, fired off from Seraxus’ sword - luckily it was blocked at the last moment from a projection of Aegis’ shield.

“Whew, he’s pissed.” Hae-won chuckled nervously as Ysil’mareina took a few steps back from the encounter to keep Hae-won safe. “As I was saying… He’s not a psycho. He’s never been one. He kills NPCs, children, and all players he encounters on purpose, to make us all hate him. As he says, he’s just playing the game - the more we hate him, the stronger he gets. So, I’m going to have to ask you all the impossible. Despite the destruction he brought upon Tarolas, and the pain he has caused the hundreds and thousands of players he has attacked, I need you all to forgive him. Stop the hatred. Because if you can’t do that, no one will ever possibly stand a chance at beating that sword.”

“Hah.” Seraxus stopped attacking and jumped back away from Aegis and Mikael’s groups, gathering with his companions a few meters away off the stage. “Hahahaha!” Seraxus laughed as loudly and condescending as he could. “That’s yer plan? Seriously? Get a load of this clown.” Seraxus spoke to his audience now. “He’s gonna beat me by huggin’ me, and makin’ you all forgive me?”

“Yep. Because let’s be honest, we shouldn’t hate you. We should feel sorry for you. You’re just a kid being manipulated by an evil sword.” Aegis shrugged.

“Mhm.” Darkshot nodded in agreement. They both saw how effective their words were as Seraxus’ forced smile broke with a twitch of his eye.

“I wrecked all those vindicator scrubs by myself. Stomped that idiot Synopse, and waltzed through this shitty down just like I did Puagas. Hugs and kisses ain't gonna stop shit. This moron is supposed to be the hero? What a joke.” Seraxus replied, addressing the audience around them while motioning to Aegis.

“That’s why you’re needed.” Aegis turned to Yumily. “I need your help to stop him.” He spoke to her sincerely, staring deep into her eyes. His wording, and the way he looked at her caused her to blush briefly, much to Lina’s dismay as she looked nervously at the exchange.

“Okay.” Yumily turned to Kenji. “We need to get rid of all this hatred. It’s up to us.” Yumily moved to start looking at her dancers, and other musicians. The stage had taken pretty hefty amounts of damage now, but there was still enough room left for a performance. “5, 6, 7, 8.” She flicked her hands out, drawing out her floating pink instruments from her inventory and causing music to blair out of them, filling the stadium with a wondrous sound. Kenji followed it up with bright magic, and an illusionary projection of Yumily that made her appear much bigger, so that she could easily be seen by everyone present.

“This is a story of a sword, who corrupted a boy once pure of heart…

This is a story of tragedy, to understand we must begin from the start…

Tricked by power, and manipulated by the darkness of the abyss,

He was led astray… something on his path was amiss…”

“Shut that bitch up,” Seraxus growled with rage as Yumily’s voice overtook the stadium. He was preparing to charge towards her, seeing Aegis and his group position themselves to stand in the way was not deterring him, nor was the Silver Dragon. What finally deterred him and stopped his charge was the appearance of Makaroth, Feng, Daehyun, and numerous other members of their guilds, crowding the space between Seraxus and Yumily.

“The contract is unambiguous. Attacking Yumily after you’ve already been warned will have serious consequences. Both out of game, and in.” Feng explained while brandishing his Mithral katana in Seraxus’ direction. The conversation was now inaudible to anyone not in the immediate vicinity, due to the loud performance of Yumily.

“Aw, this is really cute.” Seraxus snarled at them. “Suddenly, yall tough guys, just cause someone can block my sword?” He roared.

“It’s more like, suddenly you have to accept no as an answer, because something has shown up to counter your bullshit sword.” Mikael replied. Seraxus held his aggressive stance with his 4 companions standing behind him anxiously, staring down the now several dozen high level players glaring at him.

“Hah. Aite. Fine. 5 Minutes till the first match starts. Play your shitty music all you want. You still aint gonna be able to stop m-...” Seraxus stopped as he watched the black wings on his back slowly begin to fade away as the audience started cheering along with Yumily’s song.

“You were saying?” Aegis smirked.

“I’m gonna enjoy stompin’ you into the ground. If you even make it to the finals. Shame we're on different sides of the bracket.” Seraxus replied before turning to walk away, towards a nearby door leading out of the arena grounds. No one dared block his path, Aegis could tell that despite their numbers and his shield, everyone was still afraid to go near him and his sword - Aegis included. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, his hands shaking slightly from behind his shield due to him knowing how easily he could’ve been killed by one slip up, and how many eyes were currently on him.

Pyri, standing behind him, noticed this and gently put her hand on Aegis’ shoulder to reassure him and calm him down, and he turned to look at her and see her smiling back at him warmly. Rakkan, on the other hand, did not for a single moment take his eyes off of Seraxus as he walked out of the arena, as if he was trying to burn a hole in the back of his head with his gaze.

“Thank you for stepping in on behalf of our city…” Daehyun politely walked up to Aegis to shake his hand. Aegis looked at the hand for longer than he should have before moving his head up to look Daehyun in the eyes, noticing that all VGN members were currently staring at him.

“No problem. We all have to do our part and work together to keep all hatred to a minimum, so let’s remember we’re all on the same team, alright guys?” Aegis forced a smile, which looked visibly painful for him to maintain as he panned his eyes around to look at Feng, Calikgos, Synopse, and finally landing on Makaroth.

“That’s the most poorly veiled hate-smile I’ve ever seen. He looks like his head is going to explode.” Lilya whispered to Synopse as Synopse awkwardly glanced between Makaroth and Aegis, seeing that Makaroth too was struggling to force out a smile that looked like an ogre choking on a drumstick. There were other murmurs and comments on this exchange, but thankfully Yumily’s music made it so that no one’s livestream was picking up anything they were saying.

After having taken it for as long as he could, Aegis swiftly turned and began heading to another door leading out of the arena, motioning his party to follow behind him which they complied.

“Come on, let’s prepare for the first round. We’re the last match of round one, but that’ll give us a chance to observe all of our future potential opponents.” Aegis said to them.

“Remind me… who are we facing first again?” Darkshot asked him, speaking loud enough to be heard over Yumily’s music.

“Our first match is against Schadenfreude.” Rakkan answered on Aegis’ behalf.