Sena’s pale blue aura flickered behind her as her blade tore through the harpy’s chest.
The silver gleam carved through her flesh and bones in a brutal arc. Svela shrieked in agony, her wings thrashed wildly, with her lifeblood pooling from the deep wound.
The first strike clipped Svela’s wings, before Sena’s second strike, grounded her with a brutal slash dealing 72 damage. Instantly after, Julian’s Shadow Bolt cut through the air.
His black lance impaled her chest with seething darkness, detonating with a burst of 230 damage.
"Kraaaaa!"
With one last, desperate ear-piercing cry, the Matriarch exploded into a swirling mist of feathers, blood and shadow magic.
However…
Despite her form collapsing and life being extinguished, the sphere of wind she conjured and rifled towards Sena.
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Her final act of spite raced towards her, howling like a hurricane. Julian’s eyes widened.
The world became frozen as the enormous shadow of a black devil wielding a gigantic sword stood above Sena, raising his blade.
A mirage, memories of his past.
The game’s warning.
’NO!’
Julian grabbed his trembling hand, refusing to suffer this humiliation and pathetic fear any longer.
His teeth ground together before he bit into his tongue and forced the muscles in his legs to tighten and forced his body to move.
’No—Not this time.’
The wind blew around his body, biting and gnawing at Julian’s resolve, words of regret, memories of harsh truths about how he failed.
"You’re nothing… a coward…"
"Did you ever love her?"
"What about those you have forgotten?!"
The spectre of the black demon roared silently above him, sword raised high, but the real world remained still. His breathing heaved, panting desperately as his lungs burned.
Sena’s long hair swirled around her shoulders as she pivoted back, anticipating Svela’s relentless attack, holding her sword while biting her lip.
The sphere created a deafening howl, a metre from Sena.
Julian leapt. He couldn’t block the force, and lunged at her body, shoving her out of the way with a forceful kick that dealt 8 damage to her and almost brought her health to zero.
Thud!
Sena’s body hit a tree with a sudden gasp, her eyes opening wide looking at him in shock, rolling into a ditch behind a rock, as the storm engulfed him whole.
The last thing she saw was Julian’s faint smile.
BOOM!
The impact knocked him senseless, lifting him off the ground.
Julian gasped, the air stripped from his lungs by the violent air pressure choking him. The winds descended upon him like blades, shredding at his flesh, slicing him apart with their relentless anger. The world spun as his crimson blood stained the wind, twisted like his body in midair.
He became nothing more than a marionette, spiralling out of control.
-1 HP
-1 HP
-1 HP
His mind filled with nothing but damage blips, dull and shaken, the wind slammed his body into the earth. "Arrggh!" Blood shot from his mouth. Forced from his throat as agony surged through him as the loud crack of his ribs resounded in his head, broken under the force and taking 50 damage.
"Urk…"
A second later, as Julian’s eyes gingerly opened, a sudden aftershock ripped through the ground.
The impact became like a fist striking down, hammering him into the dirt with an earthshaking thud and dealing 20 damage.
This made his health bar touch the left side.
THUD!
"ARGH!"
A sweet taste accompanied by the burning pain that shot through his every nerve. His chest, like a mountain, collapsed on top of him, crushing him.
Every heartbeat brought a painful throbbing as if molten iron poured through his veins. The taste of blood lingered in Julian’s mouth like a cruel memory he had no choice but to endure.
Because the sweet relief that washed over his body at seeing her safe was worth every bit.
His vision became blurred.
Then, through the haze and debris… he saw her.
Sena.
Frozen like a statue, her eyes opened wide, watching him with horrified eyes and trembling lips.
’Don’t cry… it’s still just a game, haha.’
He knew it was a game, but if he couldn’t push himself to do this in a game, would he have the courage to do so when it came to the definitive moment in reality?
Julian forced himself to breathe, his lips cracked and sore, as he curled them weakly.
"Ah… fuck."
The weak groan came out with ragged words, lips wet with blood. "I… tried to be cool… haha, damn it."
A sharp suffocating pressure gripped his chest, coiling his broken ribs, which tickled and forced him to cough, crimson blood leaking from his lips and even breathing sent knives stabbing into his lungs.
"Julian?"
Sena stumbled and fell to her knees, tears welling in her eyes as she crawled through the dirt to reach him. Though the storm passed, and the violent winds dissipated into an eerie and solemn silence, her sniffles filled the hair.
The beautiful cherry blossoms danced through the sky, caught in the turbulence floating above. The petals illuminated by the silver light of the moon.
"You fool!" she snapped, with a trembling and cracked voice, as she reached him.
"Look at you. You… look like shit!"
He couldn’t quite hear her well, the movement of her lips blurry.
Svela’s final attack ruptured his eardrums with the immense wind pressure.
Everything sounded strange, a little distant and dull, as if he were submerged underwater and because of the pain synchronisation he couldn’t help but drown in the pain devouring him.
Sena’s mouth moved. Words. He barely caught them.
"Can’t hear me, huh?"
He gave the weakest nod he could manage.
Sena’s lips trembled before her lips curled into a feeble smile.
A moment later, she flung her head back and clenched her hands and started shouting towards the sky.
"You are so dumb! An Idiot! Fool! Bastard! Super Pervert! Ahhhh!"
Julian let out a breathless laugh, or at least, he thought he did. It was difficult to tell when he felt like death itself.
The battle was over.
But it sure as hell didn’t feel like a victory.
Sena couldn’t move well, but she wanted to help Julian.
First, she tapped the small box which appeared where Svela vanished, causing the air to tremble slightly. The next moment, two items appear in the air, one a pair of eastern style swords and the other a black tunic.
"Ah… it’s cloth." Sena gasped, before passing on the roll that appeared.
The cloth tunic and swords were both rare, and after Sena gazed at him, Julian passed on the swords and rolled on the robe.
[●●●●●●●●◌◌]
◊ Dual Elemental Swords (Rare)
◊ Stormguard Tunic (Rare)
——
◊ You rolled a 13 for the Stormguard Tunic!
◊ Sena rolled a 100 for the Dual Elemental Swords!
◊ You passed on Dual Elemental Swords
◊ Sena passed on Stormguard Tunic
When Julian passed on his swords, Sena grabbed them with an excited face. The previous blade made her unhappy… she gripped both swords, a cold sensation flowing from the longer blade, while the shorter felt warm.
"This sword is wonderful, the blue sword has the power of ice?"
Her hands slipped along the blue hilt and guard, a flicker of blue shining along the blade.
The length close to 110 cm, much longer than a normal eastern blade, while the second sword was shorter, roughly 60 cm but with a broader blade and more solid metal, seemed aimed at defensive swordsmanship.
"Ugh… can you please help me put this on?" Julian asked, his body too weak to move.
The black tunic with golden embroidery dropping beside him, with beautifully dyed black harpy feathers coating the outside.
"Julian… don’t speak, you keep coughing blood."
Sena’s eyes scanned the item, her lips curling into a smile as she realised the only reason she could help him was because of the special features of a couple’s VR unit.
"So we can trade soul bound items temporarily… hehe." Sena’s lips twitched, her eyes fixated on his bloody body and ripped robes revealing his muscular body.
"You are full of wounds!"
Though she scolded Julian, her hands slipped across his chest, removing his clothes, a different action from him changing them through the game. Rather, this was Julian testing the limits of what they could do regarding the game and reality.
However, Sena’s eyes narrowed, almost shining as she gasped, and bit her lower lips, "after all his muscles are spectacular now… what does he eat?" Her heart raced from the sensation of his body, touching his abdomen and chest with a delighted grin.
The rustling of cloth echoed as Sena helped put the tunic on his body, the front with a laced v-neck. Once Julian wore the tunic, Sena unsheathed her short sword and cut the small strings and lace to reveal his toned, muscular pectorals and chest.
Her cheeks turning red as she covered her lips to hide her distorted smirk.
『I’m allowed some fan service too, right?』
Then she lifted her leg, and leaned over his body, showing her muscular and fleshy inner thighs as if to even the deal, but Julian just rolled his eyes at her strange actions.
’What is she thinking, this perverted girl!’
Suddenly, a comfortable warmth started to fill his chest… the stabbing pains fading.
’What’s going on?’