The force of Gabriel’s golden-hilted blow threw me to the sky.

My legs had locked in anticipation, but they did nothing to stop my launch. The blur of the distant city stumbled in my vision as I flew higher: ten meters, fifteen meters, twenty meters. Stomach churning, I reoriented myself by channeling power to my feet with mana. Laces of purple energy radiated like embers from my boots, and I finally balanced to stand in the air.

From this point of view, the players surrounding Gabriel were reduced to collections of mage hats and glittering helmets. Gabriel’s floating name icon—he always stubbornly left it on—was too far below for me to see anymore. Nonetheless, I still met his eyes, two glinting gemstones pulled from the virtual sky on which I tread.

Black fabric billowed around me as the wind fluttered through my cloak. From the sight of Gabriel’s golden curls tousled in the sun, a draft was also rushing through the clearing. His hair gleamed like a halo—the perfect image of a fairy tale hero.

And I was the monster. The gleaming point of his sword made it clear. Wind buffered around my ears, but his voice rang through easily.

“Face me properly, you coward! Come down right now!”

The crowd cheered. I let out an inaudible sigh but hovered where I was. I wasn’t a fan of the unsteady winds up here, but if I was going to be coerced into this fight in the first place, I didn’t see why I had to comply with his demands.

I was also not eager to rejoin the gathering of players—players who recorded gameplays and posted to forums. Though I never visited the forums myself, I wasn’t an idiot. At least up here, no one could record me for entertainment. People weren’t foolish enough to fly close to me, anyway.

Gabriel was the exception. I held up one gloved hand and beckoned with my finger: a clear challenge.

He was on me within the next heartbeat—just not quick enough. The glowing attack of his blade collided with the pole of my spear, coiled in shadowy, purple laces. They dissipated under his sword’s luminous light. A shockwave from the impact sent the winds rippling outward.

I was glad he couldn’t see me raise my eyebrows behind my horned mask. Evidently, he had been leveling up his attack strength quite a lot since we last met. Was that why he hadn’t challenged me since last week?

One strike, then another. With a yell, Gabriel slashed, triggering the same effect that had sent me flying before. This time, I went with the flow of the attack. Its force only sent me back a few meters.

We circled each other, the spear wielder and sword waver. One clothed in darkness, the other in light. As per usual, the amplified voices of a few hecklers flew into our confrontation.

“This is your chance! End the Demon King!”

“Give him hell, Gabriel!”

Gabriel clenched the hilt of his sword with a clink. “Your attacks are weaker. Admit it, I’ve gotten a lot stronger. Just accept your loss!” As he spoke, the blue in his eyes started glowing gold. One of his critical attacks, it seemed. This early in? He must’ve been confident in victory, or the crowd was feeding his arrogance.

He lunged, a blazing streak of sun. I greeted him with my spear.

There were three truths I knew of the player named [Gabriel].

The first was that he was the unofficial “Hero” of Akoras. With his penchant for helping and active online experience, it wasn't hard to create such an image. At the same time, the role the community slapped onto me was “Demon King”.

Sparks exploded as our weapons clashed again. Those orange bursts danced among our purple and gold, a dangerous variant of a light show.

“Still ignoring me? Fine, that’s how you’ve always been.” Gabriel swung, causing me to duck face-to-face with the pendant strung over his white armor. Above me, his voice became smug. “Or are you scared now?”

I fell into the familiar pattern of his attacks. A dodge at the swing of his blade, two thrusts for a parry. A jab at his chest bought me time to drain more mana to keep from tumbling through the dizzying scape of the sky. There was another clink, the sound for activating holy skill, and he flung me several meters again.

Back to square one.

He grinned in a way that was less heroic and more gloating. “I’ve finally defeated you this time. You’re losing, admit it!”

I couldn’t help the “ch” that escaped from my mouth. The guy really didn’t know when to stop talking. I signaled with my finger again, now leaking with demonic energy. I could look plenty enough jeering with my faceless mask tilted to the side. You haven’t even started.

The second truth I knew of the player [Gabriel] was that he was impetuous. It did no good for his so-called sense of justice—as well as when his capability was called in dispute.

He rushed towards me, sped by the energy blessing his shoes. Raised high, the sword gleamed even brighter in the sun, emitting bronze to gold to pure white light. Activation of some other ability to smite me, I was sure.

The blade slammed into a mass of swirling purple shadows. They reeled faster around me at contact with his holy sword. It illuminated blindingly from unreleased energy. With a howl, the blast from impact incinerated the air around us. In the corner of my eye, the world chat rolled out the death pings of a few unfortunate low-level spectators.

“A shield?” Gabriel’s eyes widened as his hair swept away from his forehead. “But [Divine Retribution] should’ve dispelled demonic shielding spells!" He was breathing hard. "No, you were preserving energy this whole time. You were spurring me o—”

So it turned out that his level was still too far below mine, for me to be able to use just my mana source to block him. I reached past the threshold of energy and closed around the fabric of his cape collar. The gold light seeped from his eyes. Now they glared at me, raw and blue.

“I thought I had you.”

The third truth I knew of the player [Gabriel] was that, despite dueling me for one year, seven months, and fifteen days, he had never claimed a victory once.

“No.” I offered him some closure. “I just hate fighting in the air.”

With a tail of shadows whistling behind me, I hurled Gabriel straight back into the ground. He slammed through the grass below, and the entire clearing surged from the shockwave.

The final explosion cleared the field in a burst of holy and demonic light.