The crossover into the digital world was strange.
Gravity was suspended as the castle floated through the portal in the sky and hovered over the Novice Village.
It was raining here too, but being upside down right now, they were shielded from the water.
The whole thing was tripping Faust up. What he knew now was that he was upside down, looking at the Novice Village from hundreds of ters above.
The bending of space and gravity by the magic circle reminded Faust of sothing.
He reached out behind him and pulled at space.
’Instance Replication.’
Either this worked or he died.
Cutting through his plans, Vi rushed at him.
[The Blood Feud effect has been placed on you!]
’Finally on the offensive.’
She struck with her armored hands like a machine. Each move bled into the next, and her body had a static perfection to it—like she wasn’t even hitting him.
So smooth it looked effortless, yet each blow landed like a brick against his guard.
’Auto Cast!’
He switched positions in the middle of her high kick. Now he was behind her, swinging his cutlass hard.
With her knee half-raised, she should have no way to block.
But she turned her knee to block the strike, tal armor appearing over it quickly.
His cutlass bounced off it hard.
Faust felt the impact against his own knee, but it was a lot stronger than Vi’s damage reflections from before.
They both staggered back before snapping forward again.
Light clones erupted around Faust, releasing light popping sounds and flashes of light, which he used as a distraction to enter a Narrow Path.
But Vi ignored his light clones, turning to exactly where he walked out.
’How does she always know which one is ?’
She blocked his slash and side-kicked him so hard he bounced off the stone. Cracks spread. Faust spun mid-air and slashed in Vi’s direction out of instinct.
She had been rushing toward him and walked right into his slash.
The blade cut across her chest, making her grunt in pain.
Faust landed on his feet and felt the slash building across his skin from the damage reflection.
But then the feeling suddenly stopped.
Vi turned sideways as Thalia and the others landed on the floating rock.
It was so strange seeing them walk upside down. Zen stumbled and looked up—or rather, down—at the Novice Village.
"I’m feeling a bit sick."
Greg stayed low, holding onto the ground.
Nirvana was beside him, her eyes fixed on Faust. So much passed between them, but Faust just nodded.
What would happen would happen.
Hiding and running from it would just delay the inevitable.
Thalia had her hand outstretched. She had just used her Absolution skill to remove Vi’s Damage Reflection skill.
They had a variety of injuries all over their bodies. Spider’s left arm hung limply at her side, and blood matted the side of her head.
Vi grimaced, turning between the six of them. Her puppets appeared around her, steel glinting and golden masks glowing in the dark.
"I’ve already won. Even if you break the magic circle, the castle will still fall on the Novice Village. At this height, it’ll be like a teor."
Vi glared darkly in Faust’s direction. She made a hand gesture.
"Boom. You lost. Are you happy with my effort now? You can still escape—fly so distance from the blast."
Faust looked up at the Novice Village hanging there like a mirror world. Then, the ga had to change.
Destroying the circle couldn’t be the objective.
Faust raised his hand. "Put away the knights. Just you and . If I win the fight, then you turn this around."
"Do you hear yourself?" Vi looked at him incredulously. "Why would I do that?"
"Because you don’t want your exile to end. You want to die and hope that your sins will be forgiven."
Vi turned pale. She squeezed her face but said nothing. Her puppets moved to attack. Nirvana and her friends tensed up but didn’t move yet.
They all looked to see what he would do first. Even Zen.
Faust fought back a smile.
"You don’t want to go back ho, Vi, and you don’t want to live anymore. There is no place left for you. You’ve run from the truth for so long, but it still catches up to you."
"Even when you’re at the edge of victory, you warn us because you don’t want to win."
Drekar pulled himself to his feet. "Vi! Don’t let him goad you. Don’t—"
Too bad Vi was already charging toward Faust.
She spun from her heels to her hands, throwing three rapid kicks. He dodged two but had to block the third.
The blow hit like a truck against his battered body. He was healing now, but Vi gave him no breathing room.
"What choice do we have?!" Vi roared, throwing wild punches that landed like mortar shells. "We play our roles."
Faust was once again reminded of what his mory Trial had been.
He understood now that it was the system telling Faust to shut up and dance.
It would give him a role, force him into a place he didn’t want to be in, and make him fight for a better life.
Vi was banished from a ho that killed her friend, banished from a life she barely enjoyed living.
She was banished to a dead world to wait for a chance to fight her way back ho.
She probably planned a lot in the beginning, grew thirsty for her revenge against Drege and Malik.
But then centuries passed.
Ti has a way of dulling even the hottest of fires.
And in that cold, isolated place, she turned inward and began to question every instant of her life.
So now her ti to leave had co.
Leave this desolate hell and go back to the backstabbing, ruthless ho you once had.
The system must have been laughing when it created this trial for her.
It was why they had been so cold when the fight started—why Faust had disliked them so much.
They realized their position in this ga.
The hostages.
Faust caught one of Vi’s blows. She snapped her other fist at his belly, but he caught that too. He pulled them together, slamming their foreheads together as they struggled.
"One more thing to fight," he grunted heavily. The heat of pain covering his body was all he knew.
Vi wasn’t much better off. Blood dripped from the wound on her chest, and bruises covered her face and arms.
"What?" she shot back.
He didn’t answer, but he felt she understood.
The system was the last person he had to challenge in this trial.
Beyond the enemies in front of him and the monsters at every corner.
He couldn’t let the system’s perfect story play out.
In the anti, he had to win this fight. Faust was suddenly thankful he spent all those loops in the mory fighting Drege and the rest of his goons.
Vi had a similar fighting style, so he was able to hold his own. She was more disciplined than him, and had a better foundation and techniques.
But Faust was adaptable. Each blow she landed, he traded it back for another. He slashed into her, but she ignored the pain and fought like a madman.
The anger fueled her attack and brought life back to her strikes. She was getting faster, landing more blows, and deflecting his strikes in more creative ways.
She was one hell of a fighter.
But Faust had more resolve.
He had been waiting for his Instance Replications to refresh. The fight that felt like hours was only actually three minutes.
And in that ti, he had been spamming the Instance Replication button in his mind, waiting.
And now, it worked.
He replicated the golden beam attack that he enhanced with Distance-Damage Amplification and Narrow Path.
Vi only had a second to sense the sudden overflow of magic. A look of disbelief twisted her face.
It was coming from behind her, flooding the world with a sudden light that made Faust squint.
Vi slamd a palm into his stomach at that, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Ti slowed down for them in that mont.
She turned left and right, watching Drekar and the Puppet Knights fight off Nirvana, Zen, and the others, doing their best to stop the magic circle from being destroyed or touched.
If she deflected the golden beam sideways, she might kill Drekar or one of Faust’s friends.
The only direction she could deflect it was up.
And at this distance, it would destroy the magic circle.
But there was a last option.
Vi t Faust’s gaze with a somber light. "I hope you can survive your own attack."
Nirvana only saw an eruption of light, and then she saw it swallow Faust and Vi.
"FAUST!"
***
A/N: Sorry for the late ch. We’re falling behind on Power Stones and Golden Tickets, so if you can, drop so for the novel.
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