Accidental Reaver

Beneath Luke's foot remained a frozen over elf Monk.

Xera was stabbed into the Monk's lower back, skewering him to the ground. Frost and blood covered a vast section of the arena. The Monk's eyes seemed to grow heavy, closing shut despite efforts to resist the lure of death. Sputtering out blood and struggling to breathe, the monk asked Luke in disbelief.

"Are you human? Every move I made…"

"Yes, I could see it all in advance. Your sight is too abysmal to match mine, and your attributes aren't going to close the gap left open from that disadvantage. If it makes you feel better, Thaniel, the others I accepted will have the same happen to them, give or take a minute compared to you."

A blood puddle launched out Thaniels mouth, "Three minutes, that's all you needed. I'm ashamed."

"Don't be. Defiers value techniques for a reason. You got a hands on lesson as to why. If you want to atone, try convincing your friends I earned my position, no matter what others believe."

Thaniel pained himself from a weak laugh, "You needn't convince me, Ice Defier. Once word spreads of your ability, few will keep that belief."

"Good." Luke twisted Xera in the elf's spine, killing Thaniel. The barrier surrounding them reacted, putting Thaniel into a green cocoon of light, gradually restoring the elf back to life.

When Thaniel handed over the five Armor Tokens, the white tether between them snapped, and Thaniel stepped onto the blue teleportation platform that appeared nearby. Faint cheers could be heard now that the barrier stopped preventing outside influence from reaching them.

Thaniel disappeared with a nod. Luke followed back to the circle where it all started. The Interface overlaid Luke's vision with a transient white path again, but it lost its purpose by now. Luke knew where to stand. After about a minute of waiting, the tora Warrior from before revealed himself on the other side, not so far from where Luke skewered Thaniel into the ground.

A blue floating contract materialized in front of him since Luke had yet to leave the inner arena. This revealed what the tora wagered in return for the right to challenge him.

"Fifty Beast Crystals, not bad." Satisfied by the suggested wager, Luke accepted it. The two minute timer appeared in the upper right corner of his vision.

Forming Xera into a wand, Luke applied his dual buff abilities to her. The frost runes covered his body faster this time, and he layered ice beneath his feet, compressing it to contain great force.

As the timer set to zero, Luke instantly applied Essence Bond to the tora Warrior, shattering the ice beneath him while boosting it with Triple Step. Like a rocket, Luke closed over half the distance before the tora could blink.

But the veteran Warrior reacted with poise, trying to time his swing to meet Luke's coming assault. To his credit, he'd have managed if not for Luke abusing advanced Elementalization mechanics.

Luke shifted his trajectory mid-air, bursting ice from his side, while forming an Essence Lance with Xera. Consuming two shards, he sent it into a returning curve, confusing the tora. It shattered on the Warrior's lower body, drenching it in frost, and blood spread out from the punctured mail leggings.

Luke centered his eyes on the tora's neck, changing Xera into a sword, swinging with momentum and gravity on his side, being that he came slightly above the tora from the air. The tora struggled, unused to the lowered attributes and frost covering his body. Earth tried to assist him, covering his axe, but Luke's frost layered over it, melting it off, then infecting the tora further.

A red glow overcame the axe next, pushing Luke back and burning into the ice armor he'd created without thought. Thinking fast before gravity forced him to the ground, Luke commanded the ice at the tora's footing. It swelled up onto the tora's left ankle and crushed it. A valiant Warrior, the tora released a low growl, but his balance remained altered, no matter the pain tolerance trained.

Exploding the ice layered onto Xera, Luke pushed aside the axe stopping him from slicing into the Tora's body. Once Xera made constant with the tora's inner shoulder muscles, the battle may as well have already been won.

The Reaver expertly funneled frost into the tora's internals yet only commanded it at key moments to overwhelm the tora when necessary. He'd not extracted what he now considered his 'attribute' price. Cutting quickly and shallowly into the tora a multitude of times until he felt enough feedback from the Reaver theft mechanic, Luke watched as the tora became a bloody mess.

Luke had to hand it to the warrior; despite the overwhelming disadvantage, through veteran experience, he landed solid blows onto Luke's body and held up longer than expected. Ansai's jerkin—his chest piece—was sliced at the sides, and the Reaver bled. The vitality within his body closed the concerning wound at a speed visible to the naked eye. Blood Haze would cut any pain response off, and Vampiric Regeneration stemmed any wound at that level.

Once the real tribute was paid to him, in the form of attribute gain, Luke commanded the frost inside the tora to shift to one side of his chest. All of it fulminated at the flip of a hand. Bits of organs burst from shredded chainmail being warped apart.

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Even a celebrated Warrior like the one before him was forced to kneel. Like Luke, the Warrior must've reached a high vitality level as he remained conscious, but Luke had blown apart the favored side for the tora's axe hand. Luke cut off the tora's hand, which kept the weapon in a death grip. He brought up the tora's chin with Xera's sharp blade tip and slid the weapon into the exposed neck.

The tora Warrior spoke as blood tried to flood his throat, "You are no first ascended. The strength behind your swings, agility powering your movement, intellect empowering your spells, all of them remind me of my peers."

Allowing Xera back out, Luke stepped back, "Defiers always step above what you hunters consider normal. Remember, the enemy was never you all."

Luke turned away, walking to the original circular waiting area set aside for him. He heard a thump hit the ground, and the blue barrier around him torn apart once more. The green light that preserved the loser's life must've worked fast this time. Although, if Luke's life were in danger—winner or not—he'd probably enjoy that green healing cocoon as well.

He wouldn't be experiencing that today. He had a hunch.

As it turned out, that hunch was correct. The last of the four challengers, a monic Mage, lay before the Reaver, both forearms cut off.

Luke admired the tenacity this monic showed. At the start, the Mage dual-casted Arcane Bolts synergized with an Arc Field. It proved futile, however, as Xera, with an elementalized Essence Bond—could cleave through magic. Apparently, this Mage endured a grudge against him for accomplishing his dream of becoming a Defier so quickly. Luke stole his price, more attributes, going…okay, not a little overboard, but a step beyond that with this one.

The guy said some rather nasty words and, unlike the previous three, remained stubborn in the face of reality. Even now, the monic could not be convinced Luke should be the one standing above him.

"Twin Moons' curses on you, Defiler, unworthy, and-"

The Reaver kicked the monic's jaw, "Would you shut up already? I get it. You dislike me, hopefully, you can use that feeling to become the Tenth. In the meanwhile, goodbye."

Xera stabbed into the monic's lungs, turning them into ice mush. A green healing light enveloped the monic, taking much longer this time to revert the sheer damage Luke inflicted upon the unfortunate soul. Luke collected his prize, one hundred Beast Crystals, and made for the blue teleportation circle.

An Interface message alerted him.

[VIP spectator wishes for an audience, accept? Y/N]

When it became clear that Luke's bouts had ended, about seven of these floated up in his vision, much like movie credits playing. He declined them all for the sake of reaching level fifty. Luke wanted to do a speed clear of the Vampiric Wing. Authoria's mark allowed him to gain triple the experience one would usually. Add that he was going alone rather than in a party like before; the last two levels he could achieve before ascending again would be a cinch.

When he stepped into the circle, Luke appeared near the Interface platform cluster above the inner arena. This time, some spectators were in the midst of buying tickets for the coming duels. He had no idea if some anticipated event were to happen soon. Aruna was nowhere to be seen.

Another gaggle of challengers piled up in some sort of semi-circle. This time, six stood around. They came at Luke with similar rhetoric, 'Who was going first,' and so on. More concerned about hitting level fifty than robbing uninformed challengers, Luke told them to come back again tomorrow before the sun rose in the morning.

This greatly displeased some of the more impatient types, but what could they do if Luke refused their request? They needed something more from him than the other way around. In such a case, just like on Earth, you remained on the back foot, having to give ground where the favored took it.

One human Druid challenger had the bright idea to clamp a hand on Luke's shoulder to prevent him from leaving the blue-white colosseum. Before Luke tried to pry the hand off, the previously absent Aruna appeared, dive-kicking the brutish man in the face.

The Druid blasted back, cratering into the arena structure. Aruna stood over him, hands on her hips, leaning over, her black runes alive in response to her emotion.

"Hands to yourself, hunter trash. If you're so eager for a challenge, why not come have a battle with me, huh? Huh? I've been itching for one all day."

Remaining dazed, the Druid slurred a response that couldn't be called words. Aruna slapped the man, then pushed a leg down on his chest, white steam coming off the extremity, "Gotta wait your turn, handsy. Should be thanking me. My little brother has turned out to be one vicious fighter."

Shaking her leather boots off like they'd gotten dirty, Aruna skipped over to Luke, "Sparks were flying everywhere from those fights you showed off on. Another day or two like that and your challenge requests will drop to near zero. I had to hold back for months before people started to sack up again and challenge me too." Aruna spat on the ground, "The bozos still tend to be a bore in a fight though."

"I'm not sure if I should be thanking you or…fine, thanks, Aruna, could've handled it, but it's nice to know you've got my back."

Straightening up from the praise, Aruna said, "That's what big sisters are for."

Witnessing a healer attending to the Druid, Luke thought, I'm not so sure about that.

Shrugging his shoulders at the five remaining challengers, Luke said, "As you can see, I'm ending the challenges for today."

This time, the five spared hopefuls were very well-behaved. It had nothing to do with a certain monic woman giving them a devil's glare. Not at all. Politeness can be learned.

Aruna sauntered off, loudly declaring that it was time to get smash drunk again and cause a ruckus while searching for good fights. When Luke mentioned he'd return for additional duels before sunrise, Aruna said she'd be there to cheer him on.

The Reaver appreciated the gesture. With how the arena was set up, he'd doubt he could hear any of it. Luke left the arena realm after getting a rough gauge of the time. He landed outside the portal building he initially took.

A blazing sun shone in the sky, with no clouds in sight. The streets became burgeoning with citizens, guards, hunters, beggars, and refugees. Already, dozens of people brushed up against Luke, trying to get by. Ill-mannered folks appeared angry at his lack of movement. People tended to recognize high level hunters or combat types subconsciously, and suddenly, they reined in any annoyance.

Really, it was fueled by desperation. A monster Tide was coming. From what Luke overheard, Kelser was currently under siege, and the scraps of information were gory. The city's fate lay in the hands of the banner carrier, Yuriel. According to nearby gossip, in times past, the Tide often ran through a city but didn't eat it to the ground.

This time, Yuriel, the current Tide Leader, tended to siege towns, feasting them down to rubble. Starkly reminded of what was to come for Sylen; Luke stopped acting like a boulder in the river of human foot traffic.

Quickly following along the refugee flow, Luke came to the south gate, sped along by the guards. Soon, he entered the Ruined Realm.