"The truth of the sword, the lies of this World."
"Oh, we're starting with that?" Night said as he looked at Ken put more force into his stance. The water that was revolving around him was now thrashing about violently.
"Water Style-The Calm Before the Storm"
*Ziiiiipppp*
A familiar scene, the audience had witnessed this not too far long ago. An ocean came crashing down and moved to swallow Night, who just stood still and looked like he had accepted his fate. Ken had a startled expression on his face, why would someone just give up randomly? for no reason at all? was Night perhaps all bark and no bite?
"So you were showing off? shame...I thought you were more...than.....that?"
Before Ken could properly finish that sentence, he could feel something shining in the sky, it was a humanoid figure holding something that looked like a bow. Ken was confident in his skill because he knew that even if Night used Hermes's Exploration to increase his speed and evasion, he would not be able to dodge "the calm before the storm", it was one of Ken's strongest skills, the destruction the skill could cause was terrifying. So much so that, letting a player who was under level 500 use such a skill seemed stupid. He could easily wreak pure havoc in cities, of course, it probably wouldn't hurt the NPCs too much because of their level, but it could still be miserable to the buildings or the civilians.
However, the same could be said regarding Aurora's "Herald of Fire", these were skills that could essentially destroy small towns in one go, assuming that the town was just a defenseless old town, which were awfully rare to find in Genesis. Of course, Night was aware that his skills were more than capable of doing that as well, as a matter of fact, Noctis's chaos blast would simply demolish anything.
"That was close..." Night muttered as he literally looked down on Ken. He tightened his grip around Dawn's bow and took aim. He could see the water created by the skill slowly disappear.
'This seems a little cruel to do....'
Night was hesitant on firing his arrows, in his view, it would be too easy, his opponent, Ken, had just used a major skill that most likely required a huge chunk of MP, meaning logically speaking this was the perfect opportunity to strike. However, that wasn't what Night wanted, it was exactly as Nate and K predicted, Night/Luke cared more about the exciting feeling than he did about winning.
"This...is...he's flying...but how...he's a grandmaster..." Ken muttered, "what is he?"
Nobody could believe what was happening, everyone assumed the worst and thought Night was dead. Initially, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Night, The anomaly himself was killed by a single attack? Everyone was aware of the magnitude of Ken's skill but the hope that Night would overcome it still existed. Once they saw that Night was nowhere to be seen, the hearts of many dropped, it wasn't that they loved him but it was just that, the match so far had been so exciting and lively that seeing Night disappear more or less broke their hearts.
"Is it over.....b-but how....where is he..."
"Just like that....I can't believe it...Ken really is a monster. He conquered even The Anomaly, Night..."
"I was enjoying that...it is unfortunate...truly so...they were so well matched but to think he won with a single strike. Where is the balance in the game? that attack is too strong."
"I agree, it is a little too strong, especially because there's nobody at his level that can counter that."
"It is fixed then. Ken really is stronger than player Night. "
"Sadly....wait...what is that?"
"What?...wait....you're right..I see something in the sky, it is a person...he's holding a bow?"
"That Bow!!! It's Nights!!! I'd recognize that anywhere!!"
"What??!?! But how??!!"
Nobody knew Night could fly, they've seen him somewhat glide with the help of his speed but flying was something else. He gave them hope, he gave those that looked out for him the feeling of hope, the only way to counter Ken's "Water Style- The calm before the storm", was to either use sheer force or completely dodge it.
"You did it you son of a bitch," Nate grinned as he cracked his knuckles. He knew Night had something planned, as usual, his trust never wavered, it was somewhat questionable how he trusted his friend so much. Even in the face of a natural disaster, he knew his friend would find a way out. However, he was human, the anxiety would get to him at some point. Night was constantly trying new things, at some point he had to make a mistake but that was when it hit Nate. Could Night or Luke be measured by normal human standards? His abilities broke the chains and restrictions of the human body a long time back.
"Here I come," Night said as he made up his mind to charge his bow.
'Guess it was fun while it lasted' he sighed internally.
Night then shot multiple arrows upwards and then moved towards Ken at a rapid pace. It was like a black meteor descending, in the arena where the skies were bright, there was an object descending at a deadly speed, and around that object were multiple tiny arrow-like projectiles.
"That...he's a meteor?"
"What...and here we were talking about Ken breaking the balance of the game..."
"Are these players of our level? Are they even human??"
"What kind of geniuses are they? I'm level 80 and the difference between us is like Heaven and Earth.."
It was clear to say that, the crowd and the players were more than surprised. In a way it was poetic. To beat a natural disaster, you need the power of another. If the scene were captured then the Aesthetes of the future would consider it a masterpiece.
(Aesthete: Someone who appreciates art and picturesque/beautiful things)
"This isn't the end!! Come at me!!" Ken roared as he looked up at Night who was now no different from a celestial object. He sheathed his Tachi once again and jumped towards Night.
"The fabric of reality, the blade of fate"
"Water Style- Guardian of The seas"
'Why the fck does he get to say such lines for his skills?? I'm literally basic attacking!!' Night thought as he braced for impact.
*Click*
It was too beautiful for Reed to not capture the moment, it was absolutely ethereal, Ken's attack, "Water style-Guardian of the seas", wasn't necessarily stronger than "The calm before the storm", but this attack was more suited. A huge figure of a samurai holding a weapon similar to Ken's formed around him, it was made out of water and seemed to follow Ken's every movement.
Night on the other hand switched to his double-edged sword, Glacial Balance, and was channeling his energy into the weapon. The arrows he previously shot were now all around him, they acted as insurance of some kind. To the others it looked like Night was finally going all out, after all, if he were to show more than this, it would surely cause an uproar.
"Amazing....this is what I hoped for when I thought of people playing the game..." Kenny muttered as he looked at the screen.
"It looks like Night is having fun sir, he had a tiny grin on his face...that was the first time I've seen such an expression on him...but the flow of the match was out of my expectations...I assumed Night would finish it quickly, it looks like he was enjoying himself out there. Imagine the reaction of the crowd if he shows everyone his domain skill or maybe even his Niflheim skill tree...haha,"
"Forget about that, what if they saw Shade, the fearsome and deadly, Guardian of the Forest of Silence. Such a being was now Night's subject, he would willingly give his life a million times if Night asked him to. Thankfully, nobody understands the importance of Noctis but once they come to know the truth about Chaos, then they'll know the scary truth. Haah, perhaps Night truly is completely breaking the balance of the game..."
"About that...sir, I was wondering...just where did Noctis come from??? I do not understand, was it a part of the curse?? if so wouldn't that mean every curse wielder would sooner or later acquire a being of such an origin??"
"That's an interesting question Reed, remind me to never answer that," Kenny said while smiling.
"Uh.....y-yes sir..." Reed stuttered. "Nate vs Night..."
"Hmm? what about it??"
"What are your opinions, sir??"
"I want to know as well...I want to know who wins. As we discussed earlier, it is far too early for Nate to have a chance of winning but his growth rate is not normal as well... it is absurd, besides, we still don't know who survived that catastrophe."
"Oh?! Look the dust is clearing...."