Arcadia, a world where anything can come true. The future generation of gaming. A custom created universe using the Arcadia engine, a special type of gaming engine that self sustains itself and its story. Described as a game that would never die, the engine creates its own story based on the actions of players during world raids and personalized story quests. Every character is unique in their own way.
The world's top 5 characters were given the raid quest. To defeat the demon lord, Azazel, the scourge of destruction. The main villain of the games story, the one who started it all. The number one character in the world lead the party. Arthur Pendragon. Behind him, the man in the real world, Chris Smith, just an average guy, with an extremely powerful pc he spent his life savings on to even come close to comparing with state of the art 'Arcadia Orbs', virtual reality machines that fully immerse your body with the world. A single one costs over 5 thousand dollars.
The party's formation: Arthur Pendragon, Paladin/tank, Nephilus Grimmel, Priest/support, Morgan Hrambel, Black Lancer/dps, Anya Rittenborough, Elemental mage/dps. They approached the throne room of the demon lord. Arthur leading the party.
[Entering the Demon Lord's Throne Room (Raid).]
"Nephilus, prepare your buffs!"
The party charged into the throne room. Immediately upon entering, Nephilus prepared her spells.
[Activated skill: Blessing of the Goddess]
Arthur was given the Goddesses blessing, giving him a momentary defense and attack bonus. While also giving him the ability to use magic.
"Charge!"
Arthur was a character with short blonde hair that was as bright as the sun. And piercing blue eyes. Nephilus, a character with the same attributes as Arthur, but a woman. Morgan, a shorter black haired boy with purple eyes, with a spear twice his height. And Anya, a woman with silver hair and piercing eyes as white as her hair. Arthur charged towards the demon lord. A man clad only in black armor. Cracked with red glowing marks. The demon lord picked up his spear and dashed forward.
"I see! More heroes to challenge me! It's been so long! Paladin! Show me how powerful you are!"
Arthur attacked first. Diverting the demon lords full aggression to him. His shield collided with the demon lords spear. Ever so slightly cracking his shield.
'Shit! Not good…' Chris thought while guiding his character.
[Activated skill: Will of the goddess]
Arthur slammed his shield with his sword. Momentarily stunning the demon lord and enhancing his sword with a beam of light radiating out of it. He jumped forward. Attempting to stab the demon lord with his sword. The demon lord blocked. As the demon lord wasn't paying attention. Morgan and Anya prepared a double assault. Anya enhanced Morgan's Longinus spear with ice, lightning, and fire. He blitzed through the air. Drilling into the demon lords armor.
[Azaezel used skill: Authority of the Demon Lord]
Morgan was slammed into the ground by magic. And Arthur jumped forward again. Diverting the demon lords attention again. Their weapons clanged together as Arthur summoned a storm of spectral swords that rained down onto the demon king. The demon king manifested a shield around him. Nephilus quickly healed Morgan. As Anya finished casting her first spell.
"Layer 1, Chain Lightning!"
A blast of lightning came out from a magic circle in front of her staff. Breaking through the demon lord's shield instantly. Arthur jumped at him. But the Demon Lord's spear gave him a good advantage in range. Allowing him to make distance between the two while keeping the advantage in battle. Anya used the quick cast spell to quickly use her second layer magic.
"Second layer, fire bolt!"
A large bolt of fire came blasting at the demon lord while Arthur stepped out of the way. Allowing the demon lord to be hit by the bolt. While taking advantage of the large blast. Side stepping the demon lord and attempting to bash his shield into his side. The demon lord retaliated, slashing across Arthur's body.
[Warning! Character in critical condition!]
"Shit! Nephilus!" Arthur yelled. "On it!" She yelled back.
[Demon lord has activated skill 'Pinpoint'. The demon lords next strike is guaranteed to hit!]
"Not this time. You annoying rat of a healer." The demon lord threw his spear forward. Nephilus attempted to dodge. But the spear changed directions. And stabbed right into her. Killing her instantly.
[User 'Nephilus' has died! Respawn is disabled in the current raid!]
"Anya! Now!"
Anya casted her third layer magic. "Third layer, Frostbite!" A wave of ice overcame the demon lord. Momentarily freezing him in place.
"Tch. How annoying."
Morgan lunged forward. Summoning several spectral spears behind him. Preparing for his ultimate attack. "Full arsenal! Gáe Bulg! Gungnir! Strike!" The spears slammed into the demon lord with an insanely powerful strike. The sound reverberating as a pillar of light and dark swirled the castle, obliterating it completely.
[Original raid field has been destroyed…reconstructing…]
The landscape changed. A field of dirt. Destruction laid before them. The demon lord. Bloodied and tattered. Held a torn off piece of his emblem.
[The demon lord has gone into a berserker state! The demon lord is in critical condition! The demon lord is imbued with the strength of the fallen! All of the demon lords stats have increased by 500% until death!]
"Shit! Anya, quickly hurry casting! Skip a few layers!" Arthur yelled. Preparing for a devastating assault. "I'm trying! It'll do too much damage to my reserves!" She yelled back. "Fuck the reserves! Finish this now!" Arthur yelled loudly, clanging his shield and sword. Reattaining the demon lords attention after the phase shift. The demon lord dashed.
"It's done! Final layer! Omnipotent! Omnipresent! Here, feel, think! Nirvana!" The elements swirled in the air. Before becoming an incomprehensibly large orb. Floating in the sky. It started to rain. Raining destruction, a drop from the orb destroyed miles of land. Arthur hit the ground running. Sprinting towards Anya.
[The demon lord has regained his senses!]
The demon lord ran past Arthur. Bringing his spear forward and plunging it into Anya's gut. Killing her. The orb dissipated quickly.
[User 'Anya' has passed. Respawn in this raid has been disabled! Skill 'Nirvana' has been cut off.]
Morgan quickly burst forward. But he fell just as fast.
[User 'Morgan' has died. Respawn in this raid has been disabled! All of your party members have been wiped out. Do you choose to give up? Y/N]
"No!" Arthur yelled. Chris could feel it from behind the monitor. His blood pumping. The intense adrenaline he had. Stress, combined with fear, combined with excitement.
[The goddess pities you. You have been granted the goddesses temporary blessing. You have been imbued with the strength of the fallen! All stats increased by 1000%!]
"Holy shit! I can do it! Let's go, demon lord!"
As Arthur's body was imbued with light. The demon lord turned around.
"Tch. Paladins. Such nuisances…"
The demon lord kicked up his spear. Caught it, and dashed forward. Before his spear could connect with Arthur's body. All that could be felt was a reverberating clang.
[Activating skill 'Perfect Counter'!]
Arthur swung his shield into the demon lords face. The impact of the spear had been absorbed into the shield. And hit back into the demon lord. They traded blows, their powers almost equal. But Arthur gained the edge, little by little, that indomitable spirit, Chris would never give up. And neither would Arthur. A sense of synchronization between the two. The disillusion between reality and character. As Arthur stabbed the demon lord in the chest. He felt true satisfaction. Beyond that that any human could give. That any life could give. Yet he felt the demon lords hands grasp around his neck.
"Congratulations, kid…those bastards can't hear us here…so here you go. Here's your reward. To live with my curse! To become as I did! Become cursed with this eternal cycle! Defeat me and be defeated! Transcend all! Crush them to dust, Grand Oathbreaker!"
[The demon lord, 'Azazel' has died. You have also died. You have failed the raid. Yet you have succeeded.]
Chris looked at the screen. His character was being swallowed by some kind of black mass. And he was left there, stuck on the death screen. Before he saw the screen.
[You have died. Respawn has been disabled. You may not resurrect.]
Chris just stared at his monitor.
"What?! You can't be serious?! I won! I beat him! Why is it…ugh…why am I…so dizzy…"
Chris passed out. And then he woke up. Almost an instant later. He was submerged in dark red water. He felt different. In some kind of black casing. And then it was like he was spit out. Onto a dirt floor. His body felt odd. Much stronger than his frail body. Taller. It was weird. Like he was a completely different person.
[Welcome back to Arcadia! User 'Arthur'!]
He saw it there. The dark purple holographic screen in front of him.
'Huh? This has to be some kind of dream…I can't be in Arcadia! I was just tired…I couldn't have…transported worlds, right? That's some novel bullshit…'
He started pinching himself.
[Name: Arthur Pendragon Current class: Oathbreaker Description: By absorbing the curse of darkness you have cast away your oath. Only the darkness can embrace you now. The goddess is disappointed. Race: Majin Description: a half demon, half human being who aquired one gene or the other through ungenetic means. In other words, a magically created being. At least half.]
"The hell? This isn't even close to my character before…"
[Level: 1]
"Wait…what?! Level 1?!"