The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 148: Darkness in a Different Light

Dr1fter walked calmly towards the last survivor from a group of five [Karma] Guild members. His sword was raised imperiously towards their throat, as he corralled them unhurriedly towards a large boulder behind them.

His target, named [LuckC], scattered desperately backwards, falling over himself yet still staring at the white sword pointing towards him as if mesmerised.

On reaching the boulder, LuckyC felt its cold, blunt stone against his back, and looked from side to side wildly trying to find a way out. However, Hashin members had formed a funnel shape across both sides, and he had nowhere to go except straight towards where Dr1fter was approaching.

LuckyC tried to make a desperate break to his right, raising his sword threateningly as he attempted to dodge past ImpalerVladislav, but a phalanx of swords rose in his way and he backed off instinctively. Retreating, he felt a freezing hand grab his left shoulder, and looked around to see Dr1fter preparing to behead him.

Raising his sword in a hopeless attempt at defence, he found his sword deflected down by the boulder, and Dr1fter's sword cut easily through the back of his neck.

Dr1fter sighed, and let go of LuckC's body, allowing it to fall to the ground.

"Alright," he said, "that was all the biggest [Karma] players. Small Guild, no? Many members, small talent. So, what Guild do we target next?"

"Why not [Erasure]?" Jin suggested.

"They're busy fighting [Stranded]," Immisera chimed in, with her typical, hyperactive voice, "so if we kill them, then it will make [Stranded] stronger. Instead, we should let them both weaken each other."

"Exactly," Dr1fter said, smiling. "We should hold off from getting involved there yet. Immy, you're getting too reasonable now, you scare me sometimes. Before you were just a little gossip."

"I guess you're rubbing off on me."

"Maybe." He turned to the rest of the group. "Anyway, the members of [MountainHome] have holed up in a building just off from the centre. They were a large PvE Guild, but they've had many losses, members of both [Stranded] and [Erasure] started picking them off in the middle. Let's deal with them now they're weak."

He set off towards the central plains, not waiting for a reply. The other members followed obediently.

"Where did Maroc's group go, by the way?" Jin said.

"Oh, they got killed, trapped against the mountain-side and surrounded by [Stranded]," Dr1fter said. "We could have tried saving them, but the crowd around them was too big, would have been risky. They went too close to the main battle, maybe too enthusiastic."

"Wasn't Mino a named player? Does that mean he's gone for good?"

"Yes, he was actually a big whale! But didn't put it to good use. Anyway, too late to worry, let's go."

[MinoTroy] had always been passive-aggressive towards Dr1fter, and implied that Awdimir would make a better leader. As such, Dr1fter was considerably more cold in talking about him than Jin, who had been friends with him.

As the Hashin group headed off towards a large, white building resembling the Parthenon, Dr1fter suddenly raised a hand to stop them.

"Wait, there is something odd," he said. "Someone is here."

The group went silent, and heard the faint sound of foosteps from inside a large rock beside them.

Soon, a large group of fifteen [Mannequin] players emerged, running out from a small hole below the opposite side of the rock.

"An underground tunnel, they set an ambush," Dr1fter said, matter-of-factly. "Alright, get ready. They think they will be the first to attack, but we will charge them instead."

"Who are these guys, what's their problem with us?" Immisera asked tensely.

"Another Northern Guild, I killed their leader earlier, now they have it out for us."

"Alright, leave them up to me."

As the Mannequin players ran forwards to attack, the Hashin surprised them by surging in to attack first.

Immisera's group was the first to reach, flanking the Mannequin players and drifting further to attack from the rear. While Immisera's swordwork was fairly crude, she made the most of her adrenaline rush and cannoned into the Mannequin group like lightning. She chained a series of fierce, dangerous attacks towards the upper body, with her occasional, sturdy blocks just a brief delay in the sequence of attacks.

The rest of the Hashin wrapped around the Mannequin group, which was soon virtually encircled.

However, the Mannequin group were experienced in small skirmishes in the wild, and quickly began to focus their attacks on Immisera's group in order to break the Hashin circle around them. Soon, a dazzling array of white swords descended like hail in Immisera's direction, and Dr1fter shouted at her to get out of danger.

She reluctantly began to back away, but three Mannequin players saw an opening and broke away. Soon, the Mannequin Vice-Leader, [MarkieMark], joined them and led them in an attack towards Immisera.

Seeing his approach, she struck for his neck, but was parried. As he attempted a counter-attack, her sword spun to meet his on the right. He was surprised as she lunged towards him, catching his arm and holding it out of the way as her sword fluttered up and pierced his chest.

Her light-brown ponytail flew up friskily, its blue highlights flashing in the sunlight, as she yelped in pride at the victory.

She used [Dodge Step] and quickly backstepped out of the way of two swords flaying towards her, then raised her own sword. One of the players attacking her had already been taken out by her allies, and soon she saw Dr1fter approaching her.

Her two assailants, however, focused on her, and she had to raise her sword to parry one frenzied attack, before gently side-stepping to avoid the other.

As the first player, named [Eloym], raised his sword for an [Overhead slash], she tensely raised her sword to block the ferocious strike, and held off his blade as it buzzed just inches over her head. The light from his sword almost blinded her, but she spunkily held on, as he leaned forwards to try and press his way past her defences.

The second swordsman now slashed cautiously towards her midriff, but she swayed just out of the way. Frustrated, the swordsman stepped closer. To escape Eloym's blade, she dodged hard towards the right, but her blade slipped out of place and left her open to a further attack.

She only just about managed to deflect Eloym's further strike towards her neck wide, but he ran forwards and forcibly pressed her back against the rock which the Mannequin had emerged from.

She looked around with panic in her eyes, but saw with relief that her second assailant had been slain from behind by Dr1fter, who was coming to protect her. He glowed with a red aura, and players in his way seemed to shrivel up as he approached, before being quickly dispatched.

Eloym knew that his team wouldn't last, but realised that Immisera was important enough that the Hashin were making efforts to save her, and decided to at least take her with him.

As Immisera swayed to the side in order to escape his attack, he grabbed her by the shoulder and pressed forwards, wrestling her onto the rock. She screamed out, but continued to hold her sword up firmly.

Their swords both jostled between them at close quarters, with Eloym pressing his chest against her in an attempt to force her down and lower her guard. She stood firm, but her arms began to wilt, and she felt Eloym's breath on her face as he stared with wild, angry eyes into hers. Her mask had been thrown to the side by the scuffle. Although she kicked against his shins, he didn't seem to feel it, and raised his arms in order to try and force his blade across her.

She pressed against his neck with her elbows, and managed to keep him some distance away, but he violently shook her using his upper body strength and she had to lean against the rock to stay in balance as she desperately fended off his sword. She could feel its tickle just across her cheek.

As she tried to escape towards her left, she found that his grip and physical pressure made her unable to move. Bruises opened up across her back as he shoved her hard into the rock in an attempt to break her composure.

Suddenly, his chest was split by a decisive strike from behind, as Dr1fter finally found his way to the fight.

As Eloym's remains fell to the ground, Dr1fter and Immisera panted to catch their breaths.

"Are you alright? You did well, but maybe you rush into excitement too often," Dr1fter said.

"Yeah, that was too much excitement for me," Immisera said, floating forwards and fanning her face with one hand while still half-faint.

Her steps were dizzy, and as she tried to stand still her painful, arched back teetered from side to side.

Seeing this, Dr1fter walked over, and she leaned back lightly to invite his grasp.

As his firm hands gripped her heavily by the shoulder and waist, she rocked backwards as if struck by a bomb, and let his hands draw her rapidly backwards to rest against his chest.

"Thanks, dear," she chirped, "I know you don't like being called protective, but thanks, so much. I needed that!"

"I don't like it, now apologise or I'll push you away," Dr1fter replied, feigning a serious tone.

"Sorry!" She giggled. Her small, slightly square face typically looked like a Tasmanian devil's, due to her aggression, but when amused it looked more like a weasel. "Fine, fine. Be gentle, though, we're getting married tomorrow."

"I'm marrying you because you're always lively and active, and you don't delay me in dungeons. If you fell down and got hurt, then maybe I wouldn't marry you, because you couldn't keep up."

He did have another reason for that marriage, namely that she was popular even among supporters of Awdimir, and marrying her would help unify the Guild and make his leadership more secure. But he didn't like discussing the tension in the Guild.

"Hm. Be honest, you like me, don't you? You just don't want to say it." She pursed her lips in mock-frustration.

"Next question."

"Oh, be that way. So what was that red glow around you? It was really flash, but you wouldn't just do it for style, eh?"

"Oh, that's a more interesting question. I only figured it out a few hours ago. It is an item, paywall, called the [World Emperor's Coin], at first I thought it was only for enhancing goldsmithing tradeskill. But, in fights, it will lower the Strength and Constitution of enemies in nearby range. It made it easier to force a way through."

Immisera had been drifting off, and hadn't really listened to most of that. "Oh, that's great! I don't think I have that coin, I bet it's expensive. Most of the stuff you have is for, like, thousands or millions of dollars. I'm envious!"

"Uh huh. By the way, will your little brother show up in this event? It could be dangerous for him."

"No, he's only level, um... 30-something," she said, waving her hand high next to her face to indicate that she knew that she sounded like an airhead. "That's all thanks to you, obviously. But he'll be fine, he's probably just sleeping."

"Alright. Anyway, enough chit-chat. This is not one of the crappy slice-of-life animes you are a fan of. Let's go to the building up ahead now."

Immisera made a couple of half-hearted shows of stepping away, but kept her back bent until she fell snugly back into his arms again. Finally, after turning her head to give an indignant look, she took a few steps forwards and prepared for the journey.

As the group began to walk, Jin suddenly looked up from his Guild chat and turned to Dr1fter. "Have you heard what happened to Awdimir?"

"Oh? Yes, didn't he fall from a height and get an injury? I think he has mentioned it," Dr1fter said. "I asked him to join up with us, but he says he's fine."

"Ah, okay, his team-mate says he's in pain, and has to stay at ground level because climbing hurts him."

Dr1fter laughed. "Yes, that is very interesting. I think Awdimir would not like us to know that, now his team-mate will get a hard slap!"

"Why does Awdimir hate your guys so much?" Vladislav asked.

To the left, Immisera had tilted her head as she avidly listened in on the conversation. Like most of the Guild, she was fond of Awdimir, whom she liked because he was not only strong but helpful and swashbuckling, not authoritarian and dry like Dr1fter. She was curious about his condition, and disappointed that he wouldn't be joining up with them.

"He doesn't," Dr1fter replied to Vladislav, not entirely honestly. "It's complex, alright?"

Before entering the building, Vladislav alerted Dr1fter to a [MountainHome] player who was returning to the back of the building to report on the situation on the central plains. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet, since he was in a rush to get away from the danger of the crowded central plains.

Dr1fter and Vladislav quickly approached this player, unamusingly named [AliceInCranes], taking him by surprise as they turned the corner. Dr1fter immediately caught him in a [Chokehold] as Vladislav muffled him with a black rag. The player reached for his sword, but a quick slash from Dr1fter took his arm off.

Dr1fter then lifted AliceInCranes' shoulder high and forced him down with [Suppression], while Vladislav kept the rag high up the player's throat to keep him quiet.

"Excuse me, please show us the backdoor of this building," Dr1fter said, raising his sword to the player's neck.

However, there was no response.

Dr1fter began slowly cutting through the player's nose instead, carefully splitting it off from the face. The player cried out, and began to gesture towards the back door while fumbling for a key.

Soon, he had shown them into the door, where only two [MountainHome] players stood guard a short distance away. After stabbing AliceInCranes through the heart, Dr1fter tossed the corpse aside and rushed in.

Jin, Vladislav, and Immisera followed, and the group quickly overwhelmed the two guards.

The guards had seemed surprised that enemies had entered, since the only way through the back door was to have the keys, which dropped rarely from humanoid monsters inside the building. A few [MountainHome] players had won this during the process of clearing out the building, but other Guilds were unlikely to have it.

Dr1fter used Guild chat to keep in contact with the larger group of DeathGang. His plan was to swarm in through the entrance, spreading out to force the [MountainHome] players to spread out as well and face that direction. This would allow him and his companions to easily break through the rear and target vulnerable players.

Since [MountainHome] were a PvE Guild not used to combat of this sort, he expected that the fight would be easier in practice than on paper.

Once Hashin started to break in through the front door, the [MountainHome] players quickly began to fold, and Dr1fter rushed forwards to further the rout.

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