Light Within

Intense Battle

 Noir continues to make her ways to Lumia, while Lumia builds up skeleton walls around her. Lumia summons more armies of a skeleton than before, much enough to hold Noir's attack. Sid took the opportunity to steal an attack and stroke Noir from her blind spot. "Swift Slide!". Noir avoided at the perfect time. The stake now is unreal. Noir can no longer saw the opportunity to bring them down, as the duo practically brings up their game higher. "Sorry, Noir, no matter how many flaws you saw in our plan, you can never beat us, alone". Noir smiled and replied: "Well, of course. That's why I'm not alone. Now, Astral!". Astral, kneeling behind Noir, ready to launch her attack. "Coming through, Holy Spear!". Noir jumped far enough, to let Astral's spell pierced through the skeleton, straight to Lumia. Lumia tries to summon the skeletons again to shield her, but the Holy Magic was strong enough to dispel the undead. "W-what?! It can't be!", screamed Lumia. The attack took down both Lumia and Sid, as the Cursed Oath bounded them both together, and certainly Lumia's armies of the skeleton. "I didn't expect you managed to get your friend in action...after she already fainted", surprised Lumia. Noir looked at Astral, and smirked, "Well, if you get some new skill during the battle, you probably can plan it". Sid laughed while Lumia smiled like they both enjoying their defeat. "Noir, if we meet in a different situation, I hope we can be a friend", said Lumia. Sid puts both of his hands behind his head, "Yeah, me too. You are one good swordswoman I ever met". Both of them smiled, and suddenly disappear, leaving behind five diamonds. Noir managed to wave to them and gathered their loots. "We already get diamonds here. Hmm, I wonder if we defeat the players, maybe the reward will be double?", thought Noir, alone. Astral, on the other hands, pouting, as she did not get the chance to join most of all the battle. "It is not fair~ I want to battle them too", frowned Astral. Noir laughed, as she now focused back as Astral, "Not my fault. Who asked you to faint in the first place?". A magic circle appeared out of nowhere, at the same spot where Sid and Lumia disappeared. "Well, shall we?"

"Anyways, what that you new skill that you get, during the battle?"

            Astral asked Noir, curiously, as half of the battle, she fainted. Noir, who frankly scouted the place that they had explored noticed Astral question. "Oh, it is called [Oracle]. It helps me to analyze the battlefield", explained Noir. Now, both of them are walking endlessly at the open, wide-field filled with thick, green grass. They had been walking in the same area for almost hours. This time, Astral did not want to roll around because she was afraid that she might fall into one of those magic circles again. "Hey Noir, I'm curious, Mallow said that we could get diamonds by defeating anyone including monsters and players right?", Astral continued, "but he didn't say that the amount would be the same, correct?". Noir nodded, indicating Yes to the answer. 

            They both continued to walk until a silhouette of a mountain appeared before them. "Finally, something else from the green field", cried Noir. She had enough of the view of the green's field. She needs something else, now as the open-field does not offer her much. Right before they arrived at the foot of the mountains, they saw polar cub-looking monsters strolling around. Astral watched Noir drawing her blade, so she cast some buff spells to enhance her basic attack. "Thanks, Astral. I'll be back soon". And just like that, Noir took her cue to finish those monsters off. 

"Hmm, a total of 4 diamonds, for twelve monsters."

            After defeating the monsters, Astral ran behind Noir, who collected the drop items. "I guess the diamonds will double, if we defeated players instead, rather than monsters", explained Noir. They both continued their journey to climb upon the mountains, to get a better view of where exactly their location was. Noir naturally climbs the hill, with 'Speedster', but Astral had to do it classically. "Not fair. Carry me, please", begged Astral. Noir stopped at the middle of the path, turned back and gave Astral a piggy-back ride. "Well, if we're slowing down, don't blame me", tease Noir. Astral can feels the wind past through her skin as Noir sprinted to the top of the mountain. She spread her arms, feeling like she was about to fly, as Noir keep running and the winds keep gushing around them. They both keep laughing until they reached the top of the mountain.

"Hey, Noir. Check This out! The scenery is gorgeous!"

            Astral screamed to get Noir's attention as she enjoyed the view from the top of the mountain, but Noir, on the other hands, seems, bothered. She checked the ranking on the event page. "Something doesn't feel right", thought Noir, to herself. Astral noticed that Noir did not enjoy the view as she had, so she quietly walked behind her to find out, "What happened, Noir? Something wrong?". Noir showed the ranking to Astral, "Well, something looks fishy. Here", Noir pointed out something on the screen, and continued, "The ranking. Something is off". Astral looked blurred, as she does not notice anything wrong with that. Seeing Astral confused, Noir proceeds to explain, "The event just started, but we already landed on Top 5". Astral kept listening to Noir's explanation, "To me, it is kinda weird. We both just eliminated two players, but it doesn't mean we can secure to Top 5 that quick". Astral mouthed, "By 'We', you mean 'You'", playfully. Although Astral tries to joke around, Noir did not bother to smile for now, "Listen. It almost as someone wants us to...", Noir paused, and then she continued, "They want us to win". Astral tries to calm Noir, who now looked worried. "Hey, how about I try to contact Ritsu or Haiz, to check with them? And maybe, ask them about this", suggested Astral. She did not want Noir to look bothered. Before Astral gets to send a message, sharp, loud bells ring from the skies. Both Astral and Noir jumped a bit when they heard that bells.

"Greeting, my beloved players. We almost reached the end of the event."

             Astral looked confused, "Is that Mallow's voice? It sounds kind deeper than before". Before Noir could respond, the voice continued, "To my Top 5 players, congratulations!". Suddenly, a magic circle appeared below Noir and Astral. "For those Top 5, now you will be teleported to a special place, where the "True, Final Battle Royal" takes place", explained the voice. Suddenly, a strong force dragged both Noir and Astral to another realm. Astral did not ready to face this, but Noir, she seems furious and angry. She knows something wrong was about to happen. Astral looks at Noir, but before she can speak, they already teleported.

"Let the real battle begin!"

In the other side of the game,

"This is getting interesting. Are you watching this, Eve?"

Another figure just stands still, watching the monitor where both Astral and Noir, took place, last before been teleported. The person then turned around and left the room.

"You better draw the line from now."