*Messages from Earthers after internet lines were reestablished through system portals.

  Ryan was finally calm. The forest was peaceful, the animals had cleared out from his presence and he was doing a one man - elf ambush. The last few days had been quite nice. Peaceful.

  Too damned peaceful.

  It had been half a day since the alert window had shown up telling him he could have left the Trial. The gateway stood proud, reactivated. It promised the ability to return to their worlds.

  If you stepped through.

  “I know you’re there, you might as well come out. There’s no other portal out of here.”

  This was actually the third time he’d said this today, and there was actually another portal near the demonic encampment. Ryan had found it after he scared a particularly large bear-like monster out of its hibernation.

  He sorely hoped they hadn’t found it and he wasn’t wasting his time right now.

  Valee walked into view from behind a tree as Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. Then he remembered her [Enhanced Senses] and tried to change his demeanor.

  The orc leader spoke loudly across the clearing.

  “I thought you were happy as long as we left you alone.”

  “Oh but you’ve been hiding from me. That’s not very polite, Valee.”

  “You robbed us!”

  Valee looked incredulous that he would be offended by them hiding from him. Ryan hadn’t robbed them, he’d asked very nicely for a phone and they had been happy to give it to him. That was totally what happened.

  Surely that wasn’t worth avoiding him over?

  “I’m a [Rogue]! What did you expect?”

  “So what? You’re going to go back on your word? Are you going to camp there and try to kill us?”

  “What? No! I just have a question.”

  Valee tensed at that. Oh, she’d definitely heard the stuff he’d been muttering under his breath. Ryan grinned.

  “What’s the password to the phone?”

  “What?”

  He’d thrown away the Artigan act in front of them. Honestly, after being alone in a forest for weeks he’d rather just be himself.

  “That’s all I wanted to know Valee, yeesh don’t tell me you’ve all been hiding from me just to keep that a secret.”

  “It’s 8259!”

  There was a muffled shout from the distance, Felsley yelled at his team leader for giving his password away.

  “Shut it Fels! So, we good?”

  “Yeah sure, go ahead.”

  Ryan stood up and motioned at the portal. The swirling gateway lay waiting for the adventurers to return.

  “You go first!”

  “I’m good.”

  They stared each other down for a good minute. Ryan was half bowing, presenting the portal and smiling at Valee to take the risk. The orc [Rogue] was unmoved, arms crossed and looking like she would stay there until he gave up.

  Someone else had less patience.

  “Alright! Enough of this.”

  Marickle stormed out of the forest. Dragging a reluctant and terrified Felsley along. Valee immediately broke the stalemate and ran over to her allies. There was a whisper of an argument as the orc leader finally shook her head. All three of them took up a formation and marched towards the portal.

  Nobody reached for their weapons. Ryan had [Dangersense] lined up and was ready to [Instant Dodge].

  The trio made their way past him, keeping their guard up and ready to move as well. When they’d passed him and made a step closer to the portal Ryan started speaking.

  “Hey Valee, you used to be a half elf that won a few MMA competitions right?”

  They froze, Felsley looked yearningly at the portal, like he was tempted to just jump into it. But he didn’t, abandoning his team wasn’t something he’d be able to come back from.

  “We don’t have to listen to him.” Marickle said, “let’s go through.”

  Valee looked at the blacklister, at this range she and her team could just jump into the portal before Ryan could do anything. It was probably the best time where they could have an honest conversation without the threat of it breaking down. An honest conversation.

  And she was curious. That was the thing about [Enhanced Senses], you couldn’t help but become a bit of an eavesdropper.

  “What of it?”

  “Why did you pick [Rogue] and orc? The build you’re going for would work better as a [Warrior] right?”

  She stiffened up.

  “That’s none of your business.”

  Ryan nodded.

  “That’s true. But hey, do you want a spar? No skills. Well, no active skills anyway. I don’t know how to turn off my passives.”

  She looked taken back by the sudden question. Then she shook her head.

  “You took out a General, no thanks.”

  The three turned around but Valee caught the grin on Ryan’s face. She really couldn’t stop herself could she?

  Ryan leaned forwards as he whispered, barely audible to the other two.

  “Don’t you want to know how much of what I’ve been whispering in the forest is true?”

  Valee froze. There was another common saying, curiosity killed the [Rogue]. Yet she knew Ryan wouldn’t kill her, that was the problem with having [Enhanced Senses]. She looked up at the grey sky and sighed.

  “Manager’s damned - you two go on ahead.”

  “What’s he talking about?”

  Felsley asked, concerned at the sudden change in demeanor from his captain. Marickle seemed ready to overrule her leader.

  “This is stupid, Valee, let’s go.” She tugged at her captain until she realized the orc wasn’t budging. It looked like the half-elf [Warrior] had finally had enough. She stomped forward. “I’m going, let’s go Felsley.”

  Marickle stepped ahead without waiting for a response. Felsley looked ahead at the portal then back at Valee. He nodded at his captain as he also stepped through.

  Valee tightened the grip on her gauntlets. She stepped away from the portal.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Rules?”

  “Adventurer’s duel. Keep it simple, no skills other than passives. No sharp weapons but we treat them like they’re real. I’ll use a dull sword.”

  Valee paused then started taking off her bladed attachments from her gauntlets.

  “That’s a lot more tame than I thought.”

  “Well I’ve got no more healing potions. I’m not stupid.”

  Valee nodded as she dropped the attachments by her feet.

  “What’s in it for you?”

  “I just have something I need to know.”

  “Fine. I’ve been wanting to punch your stupid face in for awhile.”

  Ryan grinned.

  –

  Valee Dubois, orc, [Rogue] and a dragonslayer’s daughter. She had actually been born a half elf and changed her species in the adventurer’s selection. Ryan had figured out she was going for a hand to hand melee build, something that would help you with snowballing achievements early on, yet instead of picking a physically weaker species and a suitable class, she’d done the opposite. Valee had picked a stronger species and a more fragile class.

  It was weird and he couldn’t help but be curious about her. But that wasn’t why he’d asked her for this.

  The only reason he’d asked was because she’d been a hell of a fighter on Earth.

  Her left metal gauntlet, debladed, reached out to measure the distance. Her form was also perfectly positioned for her to throw a kick. They were about ten feet apart and she definitely expected him to rush in.

  Ryan stood, unguarded. Scratching his chin with his free hand. A dull sword pointing at the ground. It was odd, with General Grivkas he felt like he had infinite options, but against Valee with no skills? No throwing knife?

  It almost felt like he was fighting Zedart again.

  There was no right form to attack her with.

  It was creeping up again, Ryan felt his sense of inferiority creeping back up at him. It had triggered with what the General had said and it kept building the more he looked at Valee’s pose.

  It wasn’t a rational thought, he’d proven himself capable over and over again. But he kept comparing everyone to Zedart, that elven [Warrior] had become the combination of every single failure in Ryan’s childhood days.

  A wall in his mind.

  It was finally time to overcome it, no dragonshit with a soulsword, no overwhelming her with strength. Just pure combat.

  Ryan rushed in. Ten feet were closed in the blink of an eye. He had switched his sword from the standard to reverse grip while his body blocked her line of sight of his weapon. He slashed up.

  It probably looked like a stab from Valee’s perspective. She swayed back, readying what looked like a snap kick.

  Her eyes locked onto his sword that was in the wrong grip. She aborted the kick that would have driven her knee into the blade as she hopped back with her other foot. She switched seamlessly into peekaboo style as Ryan stabbed his blade into her gauntleted guard.

  Ryan leapt back before a kick could come. He switched his reverse grip back to standard.

  “If that was my soulsword it would have cut right through your gauntlets.”

  “Didn’t realize those were the rules. But fine, point to you.”

  “I don’t want it.”

  He leapt back at her, technically he had a distance advantage with a standard grip.

  It sure as hell didn’t feel like it when the tall orc kicked out at full length.

  Valee didn’t fight like a mixed martial artist. She fought like a martial artist that had completely embraced what being a superhuman meant.

  She’d hop two steps forward with one leg, feint a push kick, pause the push kick in midair, then do a snap kick at the flat of Ryan’s sword. She spun with momentum, feinting a tornado kick with the other leg–but instead of actually kicking, she reached down mid spin and used her fingers to push against the ground and launched herself at Ryan.

  He had been preoccupied on dodging the faked tornado kick.

  Her body came too close but twisted back as she angled her push so she could do a rising uppercut.

  Ryan swayed back just in time.

  They both took a breather after that. Valee looked at her gauntlets then back at Ryan’s chest.

  “If I had my attachments, that would have torn your chest.”

  “Fine, point to you.”

  “I don’t need it.”

  This time Valee ran in like a storm of limbs. Ryan was sorely wishing he’d at least brought a shield as he dodged each real strike by the barest of margins. Her movements became more fluid as she began to understand more of Ryan’s real physical abilities.

  –

  Classes were the great equalizer. In disparity of species, of wealth and status. The [Rogue] class defined this fact more than any other class. It stripped away every other advantage and made skilless duels between adventurers more about battle tactics and how well you could predict your opponent.

  The great equalizer was also a great lie.

  The simple fact was that an advantage like having dragonslayer parents couldn’t just be quantified with physical capability. Valee had the best tutors, the best resources and the best competition. She’d honed in her battle instincts from the very day she had been able to walk.

  There was a reason why Destineds were always the worst performing members of any low realm party.

  Valee was trying to understand the opponent in front of her. Trained, intelligent, daring. Not actually a [Savant] monster. In fact, this was familiar territory. Artigan was physically stronger from his Epic’s passive.

  Fighting this elf reminded her of the multiple times that she had attempted to overcome gender and weight differential with pure skill. It didn’t work as much as one would wish but in this case?

  He was moving stiffer than expected, putting more force into each swing and strike than necessary. In a real sense he moved less like a [Rogue] and more like a [Warrior].

  She knew how to deal with someone like this. The strength difference wasn’t great…

  And therein lay Artigan’s trap.

  Artigan threw his sword during one of Valee’s spin kicks. She twisted away in surprise as he jumped in close. He snapkicked at her leg as she hopped on one leg to dodge–as Artigan also slammed forward with all the momentum he could muster from one leg.

  , he’d watched her and learned, and [Rogues] didn’t need to practice to copy movements in mid battle.

  She tried to punch him away while trying to reposition but her opponent had seen it before. With more fluidity than he had shown throughout the entire fight, he grabbed her arm with both of his and slammed her to the ground.

  Valee blinked in surprise as he attempted to do an armbar–too slowly.

  She was a in MMA, , and that included a lot of groundwork, or rather grappling. Whatever he was trying was clearly something that was unpracticed.

  Valee executed a maneuver where she bent inwards with the arm, spinning forward while elbowing his ribs at the same time. She pushed his thumb in, causing pain and the slightest delay–just long enough for her to lock his arm on her torso. Her legs extended fully over his chest.

  She’d reversed the armbar. It was over.

  “Zero ground game and you try to grapple me?”

  “.”

  Artigan tried to kick out. It looked like a toddler kicking out his legs, ineffective as Valee just twisted to keep him locked. The elf looked so confused as to how he ended up in this situation.

  “I’ll break this arm, you’ve lost.”

  “I can get out of this.”

  Valee doubted that as he slammed his free hand into the ground, he tried to bend his locked arm inwards in a brute constant of strength. She tightened, ready to teach Artigan a lesson but a sudden strength pulsed from his entire body. He stood up on one leg as he prepared to knee her in the back.

  Valee let go in surprise.

  The elf leapt at his fallen sword and grinned at her, arm dangling and grinning like a madman. Then he blinked at her posture. She had crossed her arms, clearly done with the fight.

  “Ah damn, my Epic went off didn’t it?”

  “Pretty sure you fucked up your shoulder too.”

  –

  He had lost.

  Ryan just sat at the clearing looking out at what would be the last he’d see of this cold forest. It was a dreary day like everyday he’d been here. A dark cloudy day that promised snowfall but never did. Despite the loss and the scenery Ryan felt content. He smiled a satisfied smile.

  “Why did you even want this fight? I don’t think you had anything to gain from it.”

  “I had to know if I actually had talent or not.”

  “Is that a joke?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  She really wouldn’t. He’d checked out her history and she was in certain ways, even worse than Zedart. She’d won nationals in France for boxing, taekwondo and wrestling. She then started tearing it up in non-orc women’s MMA.

  Orcs had to have their own competitions.

  Valee shook her head at him.

  “Did you get your answer?”

  “Yeah.”

  He was talented but not a prodigy. Good but not infallible. He hadn’t lost in his ability to read the battle. Ryan had just completely underestimated wrestling. A few videos at realm two did not put him at Valee’s level. It was an understandable gap in his weakness, after all, adventurers didn’t really grapple monsters.

  “Glad I could help, now you owe me some answers.”

  Ryan smiled at the orc. Valee had won, now it was her turn to pay the price. Just like he had.

  “Of course.”

  It was showtime.

  …

  The orc [Rogue] captain was a patient listener, not interrupting or exclaiming, just silence with a look of disbelief at every point in the story. Of course Ryan hadn’t told her everything. Just everything about the Witch Tyrant and what they were preparing for.

  So, he’d told her everything important.

  “I don’t believe you, why would you even tell me this?”

  Denial, a classic. Ryan spread his arms, like a performer addressing his audience.

  “Maybe it’s because this is the only place I can be sure the Witch Tyrant cannot reach, maybe it’s because I don’t like her. Valee Dubois, now you know the truth. Adventurer, it’s up to you what you want to do with it.”

  Valee looked like she wanted to strangle him, then herself. Some things were dangerous to just know about and she’d fallen for it like a sucker.

  “What do you expect me to do? You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to go out and do anything with any of this. I’m a Manager’s damned second realm.”

  Ryan laughed.

  “Well, so am I! I’m just a nobody that worked as a cashier. Who knows? Maybe this entire situation was just so that I could give you this message. I’m not the final piece, you know? Just maybe it was .”

  Ryan bowed. A stage performer’s bow, the backdrop of a clearing with the General’s body laying in the side. Snow falling slowly.

  “Oh, who have beaten the great and terrible Artigan in an adventurer's duel. A duel with stakes. What will you do now, ”

  Valee shook her head and stomped towards the portal, she turned around.

  “You’re a crazy asshole.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  Ryan stared at the swirling portal as Valee ran through. The notifications said that the Trial had started shrinking. He gave it another twenty minutes. He didn’t want to awkwardly end up sharing the safe room with Valee’s team after everything that had happened.

  Valee was a real adventurer. Pragmatic, prioritized her team’s safety, greedy and a bit of a badass. This wasn’t just a rebellion against the Witch Tyrant but he genuinely wanted her to get stronger.

  The duel would help her achievements. It was a genuine fight with stakes that mattered to them both. Even if Valee had regretted hearing it.

  He felt right about what he’d just done, he couldn’t quite articulate why, but it right.

  Ryan picked up the rest of his gear, including a metallic spear he’d been enjoying using, and stepped in through the portal.

  –

  A boot slammed into the clearing. A large demon in bloodsoaked armor made his way into the clearing. All he found was a ruined gateway, one that had deactivated.

  The Trialist was gone. The tracks in the snow indicated that it hadn’t been too long.

  “A chance too late. This damned human King.”

  Demon King Arctus, sat down, Grivkas’ corpse by his side. He looked up at the grey sky.

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