67 Chaos

"So what brought you here? I thought that you and Leo were playing Ashes of Gods," Sophie asked Leo as they walked up the stairs.

"Well, that…" Leo scratched his head before continuing, "When we were playing, Ryan just suddenly fell unconscious so I came here to check on him."

"What?" Leo's sudden revelation shocked Sophie. "You should have told me that earlier, couldn't you have just sent me a message?"

Without waiting for Leo's response, She bolted up the stairs and ran towards Ryan's room. Leo followed after her.

Ryan's room was full of figurines and custom toy weapons. Every wall had a game or anime character poster on it. Next to his bed was a custom Dreamscape. It had a gold and black color scheme, as opposed to the green and blue of the normal ones.

Sophie typed on the holographic keyboard of the capsule. After a few seconds, she backed out and looked at Leo with wide eyes.

"What's going on, is something wrong?!" Leo's heart almost burst from the tension.

"No, no." She shook her head. "It's just that… are you sure that he fell unconscious?"

"Yeah, why? I have seen him fall on the ground and not wake up with my own eyes," Leo replied with confidence.

"I see…" Sophie bit her thumb and averted her eyes before she focused them back on Ryan's capsule. "It's just that, whatever state he is in right now, he is at least conscious enough to manually refuse the system shutdown."

* * *

Lavador was surprised at Hector's entrance. "Hoo, so this is your trump card. You really never cease to amaze me."

"Shes!!!" The high pitched scream almost deafened Shesmu. He knew that there was only one person who could speak with such a voice.

"Weren't you the one who talked mad shit about not interfering with each other's business? What is this bullshit?!!"

"I'm interested too," Lavador cut in. "Were you so confident in your ability to find me in this run that you told Hector's party to stay put and not do anything?"

Shesmu turned around to face the death scythe girl. "Something like that," he said with a smile. "Like I told you before, I'm a betting man, you know?"

"Anyway, seems like your deduction was right on point, Shes." Hector made his way towards Shesmu along with the rest of the party.

"For real, when Hector told us to wait at the entrance of the cave, I was shocked," Maeveric added. "But oh well, seems like your bet had paid off in the end, so I won't complain."

[From the Shadows it emerges, Lavador's Avatar

Clad in both light and dark, given a form of deceit

With you blade you shall decide who emerges victorious

For the 67 damned souls of the tricked lie in your hands.]

"Hahahaha," Lavador's cackling started weak before turning more deranged and powerful. Her maniacal laughter put an aura of pressure on the players. They all unsheathed their weapons and readied their stance.

"Goddammit Shes, we'll have a long talk after this." Sakura seethed, but she didn't press the subject further. She joined the rest of the party and started chanting her fireball spell.

"Shuma Meru!"

However, this time, instead of just throwing the fireball immediately, she put more mana into it, making the spell bigger and bigger. She then rotated the fireball and gave it immense tork before launching it towards Lavador like a missile.

"Child's play." Lavador slashed Sakura's fireball into two with her scythe, shocking the latter in the process.

She disappeared from her spot and appeared right in front of Maeveric. Her scythe was raised high, ready to reap his life. However, right when it was about to cleave off his head, her scythe clashed with a shield.

Hector stood between Lavador and Maeveric, Ki overflowing from his shield.

"Do not falter!" His voice boomed throughout the room. "Fight methodically."

Shesmu then appeared right behind the little girl, green and black clashing within his sword. He thrust it in Lavador's back. However, instead of flesh, it only pierced through smoke.

She looked back and grinned at Shesmu, before teleporting. She appeared above Blaze, wings sprouting from her back. The right one was black as shadows, while the left one glowed with the brightest light. Her scythe was glowing red, a red that only grew more prominent with Blaze's blood, as she pierced his heart.

She dashed one again. This time, she stood behind Sakura. However, the moment her scythe was about to contact Sakura's flesh, she stopped.

"Guh."

Blood gushed out her mouth while the tip of Shesmu's blade poked out of her chest.

She turned around to look at Shesmu and gave him the same grin as before. "So you figured it out already."

With a flap of her wings, she flew towards the ceiling of the room. She looked down at Shesmu and her grin turned even more crazy, even more insane. Her cackles turned into crazy laughter, sending shivers down Shesmu's spine.

"Oh, you're too good. You're like a pack full of surprise. Ah, I can't wait until you grow, killing you would be such a delight!" The way she said those words were almost sexual.

Shesmu shrugged off the feeling of creepiness and said, "Everyone, damage her only when she is about to attack. That way she can't dodge!"

"Oh no, you don't." Her words were like the god king's decree. Shadows and ice formed at the tip of her scythe, merging to become black ice. With a swing of her scythe, a wave of black ice froze every player on sight.

"What's this?!" Hector struggled to even voice his words. All of the other players couldn't even budge a finger.

Shesmu rotated his ki around his whole body, unfreezing it bit by bit. However, by the time he could escape his cage, all of his comrades were already dead. Their heads rolled on the ground, their gut spilled, even the always cheerful and high energy Sakura had all of her limbs broken.

"Seems like you're all alone, little Shes." Lavador licked the blood off her black scythe. The look on her eye was more disturbed than anything Shesmu had ever seen.

She tapped Shesmu's head with the back of her scythe, and he fell to the ground face first. It felt like his body was ten times heavier.

"Gravity magic?" He muttered out.

"Bingo, my little friend." Lavador winked. She then raised her scythe preparing for a strike as she continued, "Sweet dreams. I can't wait until I get to fight you another time."

Shesmu closed his eyes waiting for his death. A death that never came. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see what's happening only to find an assassin blocking Lavador's scythe with his silvery dagger. His silver coat fluttered with the air currents, and his dark black eyes pierced into that of the little girl.

Ryan had awakened.