'There are two ways I can lose this battle.' Ryan thought, raising his axe and pressing forward once more. 'Me losing my mind enough to sacrifice my companions, or him managing to force me to do it through his tricks.'
Once again the battle intensified as he thought and reasoned. 'Every time, he opens with a physical confrontation, since he can manipulate his stats to be slightly stronger and faster at the cost of sacrificing his defense. In the process, it drains my energy.'
Ryan dodged an attack that shook the earth and braced for the next move. This time the giant set aside the ordinary sword in favor of a massive two-part blade, equally sharp on both edges, one at the front and one at the back.
He tried to use it for increasingly heavy strikes against Ryan, who dodged and countered with agility. 'He still doesn't want to teleport me, because I'm still too vigorous. I won't fall into his traps unless my energy is so low that I make a mistake.' More and more dust rose as both of them cut through it.
The giant watched Ryan carefully, his two crimson eyes burning intensely. "What's your strategy this time?" He demanded, trying to sever Ryan's arm, but Ryan immediately parried, deflecting the blade.
None of the giant's blows were anything less than lethal. All he needed was for Ryan to be alive at the end, since he could mend every broken piece of him. But of course, that would only shatter Ryan's mind further, turning him into what the giant wanted.
The kind of person who would kill his own companions to end his own pain once and for all.
Someone not unlike himself.
"I don't know." Ryan said through gritted teeth, his arms protesting with every collision, every fiber of his being screaming. "If I push you too hard you'll flee, and I doubt I have any means to kill you with a single explosion. Truth be told, it's a pain fighting someone who can teleport. And you always can." Ryan frowned. "It also mean, that every single hit you take from me is on purpose. I only land blows because you let yourself be hit. Drawing me into your schemes that way."
He took a deep breath as he was hurled toward the edges of Eden, with a view of the mountain's base. "Not going to jump?" The giant asked, closing in with heavy steps.
"If I jump, you'll pull me right back." Ryan glared at him. "Your best class is mage, and if you use that class you're practically omnipotent in this fight. No wonder that when things get too difficult you fall back on that damned orb."
The giant laughed, pausing for a moment. "I'd clap for you, but my hands are occupied. You read this fight masterfully. Nothing more to add? Like any good senior, I always look for reasons to praise my juniors."
Ryan spoke from the edge of the precipice. "Fleeing is naturally impossible thanks to your magic, defeating you is only possible with one single decisive finishing blow, unless of course you teleport, suddenly spike your defense, or force the duel to reset. All of which have always been under your control." He took a deep breath. "And on top of everything, I know that this whole time you've been holding back your greatest advantage, which is magic. If you used your powers to their full extent, I could never win, no matter what."
The giant smiled even wider. "Do you see any way to win this challenge? Other than sacrificing your friends?"
"Naturally..." Ryan murmured, looking down. "No." He raised his eyes and took a deep breath. "No matter what I do, the final outcome will always be my defeat. I'm just a boy with an axe. From the very beginning, that's all I ever was. Asking me to fight an ancient guardian with thousands of years of experience, countless spells and powers beyond my comprehension is simply completely absurd."
"So what is the result of all this fighting?" He said, lowering his weapon.
"You said it yourself..." Ryan met the two blazing crimson eyes. "Shattering me more and more. No one was made to repeat the same battle thousands of times like in a game. Which is, in a way, quite ironic." He laughed quietly. He was in the Unnamed Game fighting the final Boss, replaying the same fight until he won. But that was impossible "My mind is destined to break into thousands upon thousands of pieces until it's unrecognizable, and then to do what you want. I am destined to fail."
He then raised his axe once more and readied himself to fight. "But even so, I will fight."
"Why?" The giant asked in a deep, grave voice.
"Because I made a promise." He said, thinking himself a fool from beginning to end.
But after so long, what was the difference between the game and reality?
To his senses, none.
The only difference was what he chose to accept as real or not.
As foolish as it was, he had to ask himself whether he would accept everything he had lived through in there as real or as a silly fantasy. And his answer was... yes.
Every emotion he had felt.
Every experience.
Every conversation and subtle touch.
All of it was just as real as the world he had come from.
In fact, in many ways it had been even more real.
He had never had companions who had gone so far for him and alongside him.
Betraying all of that would simply be unforgivable.
That, at least, was the conclusion he had reached.
"I promised to take him somewhere safe." He remembered the slave he had treated with care in the first days, who had accompanied him from start to finish. "And I promised to help her the same way she helped me." He remembered the apothecary who had saved his life against the cold. "To be direct... I don't think it's very appropriate to sacrifice my very own companions. Even more when taking into account that, just as I saved their lives many times, they also saved mine on many occasions."
"So yes." Ryan readied himself to fight. "The only way you win is by breaking me into a million pieces until I'm no longer recognizable. So if you want to win, shut the fuck up right now. And ready your sword!"
"I..." The guardian's eyes shifted color for a moment, to blue, then to a radiant gold. "I respect your decision... I truly do." Before settling back into the familiar crimson hue. "But if that's what you want, then so be it."
Ryan smiled as the blade came down on him. He dodged, he parried, he defended. His body was thrown back as his opponent gave endless chase, and eventually his body was pushed to its limit.
And it all began again, as with the game it had always been.
Ryan fought through the labyrinth of statues, teleported at every instant while needing to keep his focus razor-sharp on the enemy who could appear from any direction at any moment. All while being hunted by wild chimeras, no longer mere imps.
He could feel he was being taken increasingly seriously.
He smiled. "Now it's starting to get fun." His mastery of the axe only grew with every confrontation.
But far more than that...
Dozens of monsters fell upon him, and as he learned and simultaneously drew on his sharp bestial senses, which bordered on the demonic, he tore through the monsters, learning to move his new body just as he had moved his original human one.
And then, he went beyond.
Ryan had all this time been a wolf, not in the figurative sense, but the literal. A hybrid of wolf and man, yet he had always ignored the second half, unless driven to it by necessity.
But now, moving from one side to the other and finding himself wanting more weapons, he embraced that other side that had been offered to him since the very beginning yet always denied.
The claws were no longer foreign. The sharp fangs in his mouth were no longer a last resort. All of it began blending into him harmoniously and naturally, yet aimed toward unleashing complete chaos and destruction.
Ryan fought like a beast, not in name, but in the purest and most literal sense.
Ryan used the statues as springboards, listening to his bestial blood roar louder and louder. Deep gashes opened across the giant's skin as he suppressed his cries. Each time he roared louder and snarled, he summoned a new power.
Ryan felt pride watching a new ability unlock, even if it was to be used against him. It meant he had grown stronger. And that he was being taken more and more seriously.
So much time passed this way. What seemed like an endless nightmare to some was faced as sport by others. For the first time in millennia, the giant began smiling with growing satisfaction as the beast he had awakened became ever more demonic and moved with ever greater agility.
They continued like this, until that moment...
When they reset once more, both of them began differently.
On one side stood a mage of ancestral power.
On the other stood a demonic wolf.
The guardian summoned his spells and incantations. Powerful chimeras poured from portals alongside every manner of abomination. Chains descended from the sky trying to bind Ryan. Lightning crashed down, flames were conjured.
Ryan dodged everything he could, took the damage he couldn't dodge with a masochistic grin, and destroyed everything that came at him trying to bite and claw. His flesh was slashed, burned, and frozen, and even so his blood only burned hotter.
The giant grew euphoric, conjuring ever more intricate spells, ever more brutal beasts, teleporting with increasing frequency. Ryan leapt from side to side, using anything he found as a springboard to reach the giant.
The axe shattered and the bombs ran out.
But his body had already become a weapon more lethal than anything that came before.
Ryan clawed and bit the giant ferociously, dealing monstrous damage. Continuing the endless fight...
Until that very moment…
When the giant frowned deeply instead of groaning...
His eyes widened like never before...
And then...
Ryan said in a calm tone. "So you noticed, after all."
Abruptly...
Ryan stopped all of his attacks and fell back, leaping to the center of Eden.
All movement ceased in response.
The silence seemed to scream.
"What did you do?" The giant demanded slowly, desperate. "What in hell's name did you do?!"
"what I always do." Ryan said with a soft smile.
Suddenly, the slave and the apothecary gasped and coughed as they stirred back to life. Their eyes fixed on Ryan's back, still standing despite countless wounds and countless battles.
"I won."
Ryan held the giant's gaze for a few moments.
"It's over."
The giant's eyes went wide...
But then all he could do was sigh deeply and say:
"Clever boy... it seems even the foxes have something to learn from your cunning. Don't worry, before I die, I'll tell them about you. Soon enough, you'll have a whole class of students of your own." He laughed mischievously. "Try not to flirt with all the new girls."
Then his expression turned serious, even slightly sorrowful. "You lied to me from the very beginning, didn't you? Now I find myself wondering how much of what you said was ever true. You claimed you were destined to fail. But that was always my destiny, wasn't it? I was the one who never had a chance to win! Now I feel like a fool!"
Ryan looked at him seriously. "The Heaven and Earth wanted a fair challenge, and you always had ways to break my mind and convince me to follow your orders. We both knew it was only a matter of time, even I have my limits, after all. So… don't feel like a fool, because even now, I don't know what I've become. I certainly awakened parts of myself that should never have been awakened… your victory was closer than either of us could have imagined. In a way, you really won by corrupting me."
He then continued:
"I just wanted to say that, despite everything, I respect you senior and I know you feel the same way about me. I feel sorry for your end, but I know you were once a great man. And because of that, I revere you and thank you for all your service." Ryan said. "But that's the end and my time is short. And I still have one last wish. One last thing I must do, so please excuse me."
Ryan then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He had wanted to say that for a long time to his companions.
He then turned to the two of them. They both looked deep into his eyes at what seemed to be an extremely urgent matter, who couldn't wait even one more moment.
He then said with a weak voice: "This might sound stupid coming from me, I kind of know... But forgive me, I never asked your names on purpose." He scratched his head weakly, his face flushing with embarrassment. "I didn't want to grow attached to either of you. But it turned out I did anyway... So, for that reason, I humbly apologize....Please don't take it to heart, I'm just an idiot. You both should know that by now."
They were left speechless, simply watching.
He swallowed before saying. "But starting from the start, my name is Ryan." He said with a slightly bashful glint in his eyes. "I hope to truly get to know you both, one day. Really."
He then finished with a confident tone: "But I guess you both know very well who I am by now."
Without an answer.
He then smiled and closed his eyes.
...
At Last, the End of the Fifth Day Was Decreed.
[ Transfer Initiated. ]
A circle of blue light had emerged around him and pulled at him, as though his soul were separating from his body. For a few minutes, he was still able to control the body from the plane above. But in fact, he left Eden some time ago. The giant initially watched in complete shock and horror, but in the end simply shrugged and burst out laughing.
In the end, Ryan had a plan and he fell for it.
He won through his own merit.
Not even Heaven and Earth foresaw this.
His cunning surpassed even that of the great old ones.
"I shouldn't expected nothing less from my junior." Cracks appeared across the giant, but only pride filled his chest. "Tsk! I guess you really have infected me with your spirit... Fly high, kid."
The body Ryan had inhabited soon collapsed, startling his companions, who didn't seem to see his soul.
But the true Ryan found himself rapidly receding from Eden. While simultaneously the smiling giant crumbled apart with absurd admiration, turning to stone and then to dust. A flame broke free from him and drifted toward Ryan's Soul.
[ You have escaped from Eden. ]
[ Quest Completed: Rightful Heir of Twilight ]
"He really won? Fuck! There's no way I can repay him for this..." The apothecary said aloud, grateful and relieved to still be alive. But still worried. "You little shit, how in hell am I supposed to pay for this now?! How I'll make it up to you? Shit!" She grabbed her own head high and then sighed for a long time, but at end smiled faintly. "Well... I assume I'll have to put up with you for a while longer, then..."
[ Your ally has accepted your alliance as a permanent bond. She sees you as one of her own kind. ]
[ Quest Completed: Lost Son of Winter ]
The slave looked at the scene surprised, but simultaneously with a spark of admiration. And then he murmured, "As I said before, you always make the absurd and the impossible work. Just because, it's you." He smiled while tears filled his eyes. "Ryan, right? I heard your name well, and I'll remember it dearly. Next time, I'll make sure to show you my feminine side too. So you never confuse things again... never ever again."
"Hey! little one..." The apothecary glanced to the slave. "Help me carry him, let's get out of here before some other bit of magical nonsense happens."
"You want my help?" The slave looked at her in silence for a few moments."And where are we going?" She said making the apothecary frown.
"Of course I do, now move! Don't make me say it again! And... we're going to a safe and an almost pleasant place. Trust me." The slave startled but quickly nodded in agreement, following her. "I just hope you both don't mind, you know... the blood... and the screaming... The tribe might be a bit too wild for someone from the summer. But I swear, it's even nice once you get used to it."
"Do I have another option?"
"No."
He, now a She, sighed deeply. "So let's go... Just try to keep me away from the 'wild' part."
The apothecary just shrugged.
[ You left your companion in the care of a trusted ally. ]
[ Quest Completed: The Promise to the Weak ]
Ryan watched with warmth in his heart.
"See you around..." Ryan smiled with quiet amusement. "It was a good game."
***
A/N: First of all, if you've read this far, I believe it's a good time to leave a positive review, even if only because it served as a pastime for you. But if you truly enjoyed it and read it carefully, then a really good review would be even more appropriate. Since this dictates the future of this novel.
Perhaps for you it was a quick read, and you'll soon move on to another one, or maybe you waited a long time for updates that never came. But for me as the author, it was a long and arduous journey, always trying to give my best, even if for just a few readers who, without knowing it, constantly motivated me.
Lastly, I just wanted to say that I'm happy to have made it this far. And I'm happy that you're here with me, reading this.
A toast to both of us!
-BlessedByVoid