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"Happy Halloween!" Su Mucheng shouted as she walked into the practice room, An Wenyi and Mo Fan trailing behind her.
Wei Chen looked up from his screen, "Are you celebrating western holidays now?"
Ye Xiu huffed, "Mucheng's just in it for the candy." He squinted at his screen, "Why does the Glory logo have a little pumpkin on it?"
"I think it's sort of cute," Chen Guo said from the other side of the room, "It's probably for the Halloween event."
Ye Xiu frowned as he continued to stare at the Glory logo. Glory had Halloween events before, but they never bothered to actually change the logo...Ye Xiu couldn't help but feel something almost like dread building in his gut.
(If Ye Xiu was anyone else, he would describe it as mother's intuition: he knew, in his heart of hearts, that something had happened to his baby, Glory.)
"What...what is this?" Qiao Yifan said from beside Wei Chen.
Wei Chen made a move to look at Yifan's screen before he saw what happened on his own. "Fuck, what is this?"
On Wei Chen's screen, instead of the mighty Windward Formation, there was a small girl with a sparkly green dress. Floating above her head was a single number: 0.
"Huh," Ye Xiu said. His own character was also nowhere to be seen, and he was controlling what looked like an angel. "Is this part of the Halloween event?"
"Oh!" Tang Rou said, "There's a quest notification!" Sure enough, next to Tang Rou's avatar (that had transformed from a battle mage to a princess, complete with pink gown and sparkly crown), was a small pumpkin with the quest notification.
"Huh," Chen Guo said as she read the quest description. The Halloween event seemed fairly easy: if you said "trick or treat" to someone, they could choose to either attack you or give you something from their inventory. If they chose to gift you with something, the points they gained were proportional to the value of the gift. However, if they chose to attack you instead, the victor of the duel would gain a set number of points.
"Looks like fun!" Ye Xiu said, before randomly attacking a nearby werewolf.
"Fuck, what the fuck?" Steamed Bun said from beside Ye Xiu. His character was the werewolf that was being attacked. "Boss, you're attacking me!"
"Oops," Ye Xiu nonchalantly said as Steamed Bun's werewolf collapsed on the ground. "Sorry, I can't see any usernames or guild tags."
For once, Ye Xiu wasn't just making excuses for his shameless behaviour. When the rest of the members tried, none of them could access the guild page or their friends list. It was probably part of the Halloween event--after all, Halloween was a time where you could put on a costume and forget who you actually were.
"This isn't good," Chen Guo said, "in-game events are usually a chance for guilds to boost their popularity..."
"Eh, they'll probably reveal our names and guilds at the end of the event so it appears on the leaderboards," Ye Xiu turned back to his game. Spotting another group of confused players, Ye Xiu typed out a quick 'trick or treat' before blinding them all with <Holy Light>. Hehe, he loved being an angel--so many AoE attacks!
("Aren't angels supposed to show mercy?" Qiao Yifan murmured as he watched Ye Xiu's angel heartlessly destroy another pile of noobs.
"Huh?" Su Mucheng looked up from her screen. In-game, Su Mucheng's demon already had double digits above her name, indicative of her high point level. The pile of bodies behind her suggested that she didn't get those points from giving out her inventory.
"Nevermind," Internally crying, Qiao Yifan went back to giving everyone who asked a spool of silk. His character class was a vampire, but just because his team leader was a murderous angel didn't mean he couldn't be a kind vampire!)
Ding! Everyone turned to Ye Xiu's screen.
You have unlocked the subclass [Fallen Angel].
Requirements: 20 consecutive kills, and each kill cursed in anger.
Class buff: You feed off the suffering of others. Every time your opponent swears, +5 for each stat.
Congratulations, you are literally the devil.
Everyone: "..."
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," Huang Shaotian said as he stared at his screen, "fuck!"
The reason for Huang Shaotian's rage? In perhaps the greatest twist of fate the world had ever seen, the fast-talking Huang Shaotian received the slowest class ever: the Zombie. The Zombie was the tankiest of tanks, with only an infinity symbol next to its health bar, but it also had a fatal flaw: its speed was a quarter that of other classes. Huang Shaotian had tried to attack another player, but the player just scoffed and moved out of range. He had tried to chase him, but even running at full speed his prey just walked away! .
"It's not that bad," Yu Wenzhou said from beside Huang Shaotian, "I can bring people to you!"
"Shut up, you can fly."
In response, Yu Wenzhou's in-game avatar simply smiled and fluttered his beautiful angelic wings, flying away from the rotting man-shaped blob that was Huang Shaotian's avatar.
"..." Han Wenqing glowered.
Zhang Xinjie's smile widened. "For the love of glory, this glitter will make you sorry!" He chanted, and his in-game character, a cute magical girl, sent a blast of vibrant purple glitter at Han Wenqing's avatar. Saying the stupid chant was sort of annoying, but it was worth the 5% damage boost it granted the attack.
Han Wenqing's sexy nurse avatar, now with 10% less health, continued to glower. Despite the sparkly purple glitter and the skintight pink...something Han Wenqing's avatar was wearing, the sexy nurse somehow still looked angry.
(Fuck, why was he the sexy nurse? He wasn't even a cleric!)
In Club Samsara, it was a day that would be remembered for years. In the days that followed, it would be recounted in fearful, aweful tones. It would become a legend.
Sun Xiang and Jiang Botao were watching history being made. They weren't really excited about it. Their own characters, a werewolf and a zombie respectively, stood motionless on their screens.
"Oh I beseech you Glory's light, let me show these evildoers your might!" Zhou Zekai shouted as his character started glowing pink, "Defeated lie the beasts! Glory's power unleashed!" With a final spin, Zhou Zekai's magical girl finished her transformation.
"..." Sun Xiang said. Sure, the +15 bonus to each stat was good, but was it really worth it if you had to say...that?
"I mean..." The vampire that had joined their team spoke up. His voice had a faint tinge of respect, "Your dedication to the game is quite admirable..."
"Thank you, valued ally!" Zhou Zekai said, giving the vampire a buff that made both of them sparkle. Turning back to his team, Zhou Zekai cocked his head and said, "En?"
"Captain says let's go fight some players," Jiang Botao translated. His voice still held a faint quiver. "Captain says it'll be good practice."
"Captain?" The vampire asked, "Are you guys a team?"
"Uh, haha, no," Jiang Botao said, then corrected himself. "I mean, yes we are. But we're just a small team! Nothing for brother to be concerned with!"
Fuck, that's Jiang Botao. Wang Jiexi thought. Did he just call the magical girl Captain? Zhou Zekai?
At this realization, his vampire stumbled and almost bumped into the werewolf (Probably Sun Xiang...) before he saved himself with a quick <Vampiric Touch>.
(<Vampiric Touch>: everything you do is cool. Girls fall at your feet. You are (un)living, (not)breathing perfection. When activated, character will move at autopilot and gracefully dodge other players. Vampires are untouchable.
Does not work if target is [Princess] class. Princess' <I'm the Female Lead!> passive buff will cause [Vampire] to fall in love and display uncharacteristic clumsiness.)
"This is lame." Wei Chen said as he sent a faintly glittery blast at another player. Because he wasn't chanting the spells for his attacks, they were a lot weaker and less glittery. However, Wei Chen wasn't a pro player for nothing, and he could still easily destroy the poor trick-or-treaters that came to him. "I'm just killing noobs. Can we go hunt a wild BOSS or something? Or at least go and find some more interesting victims? Is Blue River around? Fuck, we can't even find Blue River."
"Keep on swearing, it makes me stronger." Ye Xiu said as he sent another wave of dark magic at his opponents.
("Fuck, that sounds kinkier than it should. Ye Xiu, shut the fuck up." Wei Chen sweared, continuing to power up Ye Xiu.)
"Guys!" An Wenyi, the only person actually following the questline and not just killing everything in sight, said. "There's a wild BOSS associated with this event!"
"Dibs," Tang Rou wiped her bloody tiara, which she had been using as a makeshift dagger. Thanks to her high kill count, she had unlocked the [Warrior Queen] subclass and could now use improvised objects to attack. "Where is it and how do I kill it?"
"Uh," An Wenyi tilted his screen so the rest of the team could see it.
Special quest: When the dark things come out to play
Details: At 11 PM, a mountain will appear at the middle of the map. Players will have one chance to reach the top of the mountain by 12 AM. If players die before reaching the top, they will be unable to climb the mountain again and will not be allowed to continue this quest.
Special: Wild BOSS will appear at location of mountain at 12 AM.
Rewards: ????, 10000 points at completion
"Now that's more like it!" Wei Chen smirked, "Say, lets go set an ambush around the middle of the map so we can stop everyone else from getting to the mountain!"
"So shameless..." Steamed Bun said, "I like it! Lets go to the middle of the map!"
Even though it was a shameless thing to do, Team Happy weren't the only shameless people in the world. In fact, it looked like everyone had abandoned fighting and were running towards the middle of the map.
"Eh, it's only 10PM, why are they rushing..." Chen Guo scratched her head. However, even though she was trying to act unconcerned, she also wanted to rush to the mountain right away!
"I'll clear a path," Ye Xiu said, and in the blink of an eye, destroyed everyone in front of him. "This way, everybody!"
("How is he able to do that?" Chen Guo whispered to Tang Rou, "I looked at the Fallen Angel's skills, none of them allow for that type of damage!"
Beside her, Wei Chen scoffed. "Is this your first day on Earth? That's Ye Xiu you're talking about."
Tang Rou smiled. "Hail to the gods."
Chen Guo frowned, then shook her head and followed Ye Xiu. Sometimes, she forgot that Ye Xiu was once the man behind One Autumn Leaf, a God among Gods. With Ye Xiu leading the way, they didn't have to worry about anything.
Funny how that statement could apply to both their in-game and real life situation.)
At 10 PM, Zhang Xinjie went to sleep.
Han Wenqing wished he could say that he put Zhang Xinjie to sleep permanently for daring to mock his avatar--real men could be sexy nurses too, damnit!--but in reality, Zhang Xinjie was just following his strict sleep schedule.
Han Wenqing sighed, and opened up a QQ in a new window.
Desert Dust: dtf
Troubling Rain: ????????????Han Wenqing ru ok???????????? yo has ur old age finally got to u hahahahhahaha go to a seniors home grandpa
Vaccaria: @DesertDust...as Captain of Tiny Herb, I am obligated to remind you that I have access to a variety of Chinese herbal medicines, so if you do notice any common symptoms of old age (delusions, split personalities, insanity), I'll do everything I can to make sure you're okay!
One Autumn Leaf: ?????fuck the world's gone insane
Zhou Zekai: :3
Lord Grim: Old Han...do you know what dtf means?
Desert Dust: Down to fight. Fight me.
Troubling Rain: ..............................................
Vaccaria: ...
Cloud Piercer: ...
One Autumn Leaf: ...
Dancing Rain: ...
Swoksaar: ...
Lord Grim: Find me at the middle of the map.
Han Wenqing stared at his screen. What was all this newfangled nonsense the kids were spouting nowadays? How was he supposed to know what dtf meant?
"The early bird gets the worm," Zhou Zekai began. "But the early worm gets eaten!" Zhou Zekai waved his magic wand, and it turned into a sniper's rifle. Well, the kid-friendly version of a sniper's rifle. It was bright pink, and the muzzle was shaped like a heart.
The rest of Team Samsara (plus Wang Jiexi) were squatting around a conveniently placed bush by the middle of the map, and were waiting for Team Happy to arrive. Even though they didn't know what characters they were, juding by the sound of screaming and cursing, they knew Ye Xiu's team was probably pretty close. Ye Xiu had that kind of effect on people: he commanded respect, but he was also like the Sun--bright as fuck, and you respected him for that, but could you please shine somewhere else? Some people would like to look at the sky without going blind, thanks.
Zhou Zekai aimed his rifle in the direction of Ye Xiu, "Today I'll show you Glory's might, twinkle twinkle little star, I've caught you in my sight!" At the end of the chant, a bright light shot out from his rifle and sped towards Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu rolled his eyes and easily sidestepped the shooting star. Did that magical girl really think he could fight a fallen angel? There was a reason magical girls and demons weren't even from the same genre...
However, Tang Rou wasn't as lucky. She also dodged the ridiculously shiny bullet, but at the last moment, the bullet suddenly did a 180 and hit Tang Rou's princess in the back. Tang Rou's princess instantly vaporized.
Isn't that too powerful for a magical girl skill? Vaporization of opponents doesn't happen in anime! Before the rest of Team Happy got a chance to complain about the overpowered magical girl, Zhou Zekai, mumbling something about stars and destiny and glory, sent another flurry of shots in Team Happy's direction.
Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng were nowhere to be seen, but Steamed Bun and Qiao Yifan were hit by Zhou Zekai's scarily accurate shots. As a vampire, Qiao Yifan was weak to light magic, and vaporized in an instant. Only Steamed Bun and Wei Chen were left to defend Team Happy's honour.
("Shouldn't you guys go fight with your team?" Jiang Botao asked Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng, who had joined the rest of Team Samsara and Wang Jiexi in crouching behind the bush.
"Nah, it's a team building exercise." Ye Xiu ate a sunflower seed.)
"Fuck, this magical girl is too strong!" Steamed Bun dodged another sparkly blast, "Old Wei, you need to do something!"
"I am doing something!" Wei Chen said, "It's not my fault his spells are so much stronger than mine!"
Steamed Bun's werewolf started to shrink, "Old Wei, I think that magical girl cast a spell on me!" By the end of his sentence, Steamed Bun had transformed from a fierce werewolf to a tiny puppy. In real life, Steamed Bun turned to Wei Chen. "Sorry, I can't control my character anymore. I think the magical girl turned me into his familiar."
Wei Chen, faced with the defeat of his entire team, felt the world's weight on his shoulders. He would not let them down now. Gritting his teeth, he started the chant that he knew would spell the end of his dignity. "O' mightiest light, o' lightiest might..."
("What chant is this?" Jiang Botao asked the rest of their bush-squatting squad, "I can't find it in any of the forums..."
"Perhaps..." Wang Jiexi paused, "I heard another magical girl mention that magical girls had an incredibly powerful ultimate, <Hero's Last Stand>, that kills both the caster and the opponent, but the conditions to cast it are practically impossible to meet..."
"What are they?" Su Mucheng asked.
"Well, in order to cast <Hero's Last Stand>, the magical girl must never have cast any other chants before. It's poetic irony of the finest kind: the magical girl has finally accepted her identity as a magical girl, as she is finally willing to chant the stupid spells, but tragically she has accepted her identity too late, and now the first spell she chants will be her last. However, that's not the only condition," At this, Wang Jiexi turned to face Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu's characters. "The magical girl must be the only living member of her party to cast that spell. Both of you are still alive, so there's no way he can cast it..."
Su Mucheng blinked. "Ok," She said, then proceeded to run to the nearest cliff and jump off. "I'm dead now," her voice echoed back to them.
Team Samsara (and Wang Jiexi!) stared. Then they turned to Ye Xiu, as if daring him to jump off the cliff too. Yo, your partner was willing to jump off a cliff so the magical girl could defeat Zhou Zekai, are you?
Ye Xiu stared back at them. Then he left the party. "Ok, now Old Wei is the last living member of his party."
Fuck, he could do that instead of killing himself? Too smart! The rest of the team thought.)
Wei Chen's magical girl was now glowing gold. "You may have defeated my team, you may have crushed all my dreams, but remember this!"
Wei Chen started to glow with an internal light, and Zhou Zekai's character stumbled back.
Truly, only a magical girl could stand against another magical girl!
"Love will never be defeated by hate! I am the last of my team, and I will carry their weight! Behold my <Hero's Last Stand>!" Wei Chen finished the incantation, then struck a victorious pose, one hand pointed upwards and the other on his hip.
"..." Sun Xiang said, peeking out from behind the bush. Wei Chen was still glowing, but nothing had happened. Suddenly, he noticed that Ye Xiu had disappeared. The ground began to shake.
"Run!" Wang Jiexi shouted, before sprinting away from Wei Chen.
Jiang Botao began to run as well, but as a zombie, he didn't get very far. It wouldn't have helped, anyways--even though Wang Jiexi had gotten fairly far away from Wei Chen, the magic blast still got to him. In an instant, everything within 80 meters of Wei Chen was obliterated. Such was the power of <Hero's Last Stand>, a final, wide-ranged attack that transformed a magical girl into a nuke.
"..." Sun Xiang said again. If someone didn't know better, they would think Sun Xiang transformed into Zhou Zekai. "Have I really been defeated, just like that?" Sun Xiang made a move to resurrect himself, but before he got a chance, he was resurrected by someone else.
"Hmph, to think you got caught by such an obvious attack."
Sun Xiang stared at the busty nurse that resurrected him and wisely chose to not say a thing about Han Wenqing's avatar.
The sexy nurse stepped back, then drew out a giant syringe. Han Wenqing would not hold back when fighting who he thought was his greatest rival.
"Calm down, children." Ye Xiu magically appeared from behind Sun Xiang. "Old Han, aren't you a little too trigger happy?"
Han Wenqing huffed. "What are you doing, hiding behind that werewolf?"
("Hey, I'm strong too, don't ignore me..." Sun Xiang muttered, but was completely ignored by the two rivals facing off.)
Ye Xiu smirked. "The mountain has formed. Why don't we get to the top of the mountain first?" Sure enough, a mountain had magically formed behind them. A pile of bodies surrounded the steps leading up the mountain--it looked like Wei Chen's attack had killed everyone unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire.
"Hmph." Han Wenqing didn't dignify Ye Xiu with a response and began racing up the mountain.
Ye Xiu turned to Sun Xiang, "Come on, little doggy, lets go up the mountain!"
Han Wenqing grumbled. He came here to fight Ye Xiu, but he ended up climbing a mountain. It wasn't even an easy task he could do with his eyes closed--even for a pro player like himself, he had to spend some effort.
And who was that werewolf that was following them?
As if summoned by the thought, the werewolf growled and jumped at Han Wenqing.
"This guy..." Han Wenqing narrowly dodged the werewolf's attack. As a sexy nurse, he didn't have many offensive skills--the most he could do was dodge and then sexily dance at his opponent. It was the exact opposite of Han Wenqing's usual fighting style, but he had to make do.
"I'm just as good as Ye Xiu!" The werewolf cried, and jumped at Han Wenqing again. Han Wenqing would've been mauled by the rabid dog if it wasn't for Ye Xiu throwing some kind of shield between them.
"Sit, boy!" Ye Xiu instructed the werewolf, but that only served to enrage Sun Xiang further.
"Fuck off! Both of you keep on ignoring me, who do you think I am?" Sun Xiang may be a hothead, but he was still a God. His attacks were precise and calculated, and all Han Wenqing could do in that situation was dodge. He had already used his strongest skill, <Medic's Immunity>, to survive Wei Chen's sacrifice, so getting hit even once by Sun Xiang would end him immediately.
"Peh, bullying the medic is really shameless," Ye Xiu said from behind the battling Sun Xiang and Han Wenqing, "Even more shameless than me!" If he could, Ye Xiu's in-game avatar would be eating popcorn right now.
"Shut up!" Sun Xiang turned to attack Ye Xiu, but quickly dodged to the side when Ye Xiu shot a blast of ominously crackling dark energy at him.
Han Wenqing wasn't as lucky.
With a painful hiss, Han Wenqing was hit by the dark energy ball and fell off the mountain.
"Huh, I was hoping I'd get both of you with one shot," Ye Xiu shrugged, then charged at Sun Xiang, "Whatever, I need to kill both of you."
Weren't you the one saying I shouldn't bully the healer? Sun Xiang thought, And you dare call me shameless?
Unfortunately, Sun Xiang had been fighting Han Wenqing while Ye Xiu was on the side eating popcorn, so most of Sun Xiang's skills were on cooldown while Ye Xiu still had several strong skills ready to use at a moment's notice.
Ye Xiu didn't show any mercy and sent a flurry of attacks at Sun Xiang.
Crash! Sun Xiang accidentally slipped over the edge of the mountain dodging the attacks, but he managed to grab onto a tree root. Hearing footsteps, Sun Xiang looked up and saw Ye Xiu's avatar standing over him. It was like one of those movie scenes, where the villain was hanging onto the cliff by their fingertips and the hero was standing victorious, looking over the edge.
Except Ye Xiu's avatar was the Devil and Sun Xiang was a werewolf, so it looked like the roles of the hero and villain were reversed. The hero was on the verge of death while the villain looked on victorious. From Sun Xiang's perspective, it looked like his story was going to end in tragedy.
"I could have asked for One Autumn Leaf, you know." Ye Xiu commented to Sun Xiang.
Sun Xiang wanted to cry. I'm here hanging on to a tree root, trying not to die, and you decide to start monologuing? Either kill me or help me up! Aren't you playing into the role of the villain too seriously? If you monologued your way to the championships, there's no way you would've won! Suddenly, Sun Xiang remembered all of his movie knowledge...maybe, if he got Ye Xiu to talk more, one of his skills would finish cooldown and he could attack Ye Xiu! "Tell me more," Sun Xiang said.
Ye Xiu hummed, "I didn't, because I don't need One Autumn Leaf to be victorious," Ye Xiu broke the tree root that Sun Xiang was holding on to, and as Sun Xiang's avatar fell farther and farther away from Ye Xiu, he heard a faint, "But I hope that one day One Autumn Leaf can return to glory."
Sun Xiang didn't say anything as his character fell to its death. He should've been angry--what do you mean, returning One Autumn Leaf to Glory? One Autumn Leaf has never left Glory!--but Sun Xiang felt like, for once, Ye Xiu wasn't talking about the game Glory.
(One Autumn Leaf is yours now. Please don't let the name Battle God be forgotten.)
Ye Xiu completed the quest, and scanned over the rewards. The quest rewards were pretty valuable: two orange equipment, one purple equipment, and several materials that you could only get from Wild BOSSes. Adding that to whatever Ye Xiu would get for the trick-o-treat points, the harvest from the Halloween event was pretty good. Even if he couldn't use the equipment himself, he could probably bully Blue River to buy it, or something.
Ye Xiu smiled. The best had yet to come.
Below him, the ground, and the mountain itself, shook.
"We made it!" Huang Shaotian said. They had been on the farthest edge of the map, and because of the zombie's slow speed, it had taken him a full two hours to arrive at the middle of the map.
Yu Wenzhou, the poor angel weighed down by a slow ass zombie, sighed. "It's already 12 AM, we can't complete the quest..."
"Yeah, but we can still fight the Wild BOSS," Around him, groups of people seemed to think the same--they were already crowding near the base of the mountain, where the Wild BOSS was supposed to appear. "Wait, what's that noise?"
Yu Wenzhou looked around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but he did hear a noise...it sounded like rocks shaking. Wait, was the mountain...shaking?
"Holy fuck, the mountain's collapsing!" Someone called out, and the crowd around the mountain quickly dispersed.
Soon, the entire area was filled with dust and smoke, and no one could see a thing. Some people ran away, but most stayed where they were. They wanted to see what happened to the mountain!
As the dust cloud cleared up, a single figure emerged. It wasn't a demon or an angel or any kind of supernatural creature--in fact, the character wasn't even dressed like a Glory character!
Instead of wearing any type of armor, the character was wearing what looked like a worn-down jacket and jeans. A cigarette dangled in his mouth. He stood with a slouch.
<The King>
Level 100 Ye Xiu
Wei Chen looked at Ye Xiu's screen. The Wild BOSS wasn't just named after Ye Xiu--Ye Xiu was controlling it. "Wait, did you know about this beforehand?"
"En," Ye Xiu said, "I had cheat codes the entire time." At the team's silence, Ye Xiu continued, "What, how else did you think I survived Wei Chen's attack?"
(Boss, we just thought you were that OP!)