The battle raged without me.

Just when they took out 6 of Kreed’s cards, Raghav falls.

The team is surrounded and is heavily outnumbered.

WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE BATTLE?!!

Back at my room...

[“Yes. My power is not what you think it to be. My power is dependent on the Resolves or any sacrifice of my Master. The stronger they are, the stronger power you can unlock. And if you use a power which is less stronger than your resolve, then you might survive.”]

“So it’s more like a give and take relation. Does it apply on all the 3 phases?”

[“Yes. The only difference is that you give more and take less. That extra will compensate for your life. But I must tell you, the 3 phases are really strong and may lead you to darker paths if your resolve isn't strong enough.”]

“That's cool and all. But I don’t care anymore. I have no strong resolve. That is the reason why I always give up. And the sacrifice is too much for me to do. That’s exactly why I left that team. I cannot be changed and that’s the reality.”

[“Its better to say that Master’s resolve is weakest.”]

“Yeah. Yeah. You don’t have to say it point blank. I know that already.” My eyes became horizontal lines as I said that.

[“But it’s not limited to that.”]

“What?”

[“I am not in the position to say this and I’m sorry, but Master do not know the meaning of Resolve.”]

“What do you want to say?”

[“Resolve is not something that you are born with. Resolve is a firm determination to do something. That determination changes in every situation. Master never felt it but he too have raised his resolve to such extents sometimes that his resolve converted into sacrifice in exchange for my powers.”]

“You mean, when I punched that weirdo and unlocked your power?”

[“Not only that, but when Master broke the Magical Ball from Miss Elena. And then when Master destroyed all the traps and Magical barriers when he wanted to peek in the girls’ bathhouse. All this time, Master had something to strengthen his resolve. Something which he couldn’t give up on. Something which he desired desperately. Those things strengthened Master’s resolve and substituted as the scarification.”]

“Wait a second. You mean... All this time I was using your powers without any risk?” My eyes widened in surprise.

[“Yes. That is why I said that Master too can do all the things using my power until he knows what he is giving and what he is taking. If he can control that, then there will be no risk to Master’s life.”]

“That’s good to hear but... I already have lost my half life. I can’t risk what’s left. You said that yourself.”

[“About that... what I said was ‘That day, when Master unlocked my power, his resolve raised so high that he combined all 3 Godly powers together and punched that guy. The backlash was too much for Master to handle and most of his body suffered heavy injuries that could’ve killed him. But Master’s Master, Miss Varsha, ordered me to sacrifice half of the life force inside Master to heal Master’s body.’ This is what I said, right?”]

“Exactly. She’s only a selfish person who don’t care about anything other than her own wants. Why would I even fight for someone like that? I’m better living the rest of my half life here.”

[“You mean your ‘full life'?”]

I looked at her with a serious glare.

“What was that?”

[“As I thought. Master misunderstood everything. I am forbidden to tell you this but I’ll break my promise with Miss Varsha. What Master understood is half of the reality. The clear picture is...”]

The atmosphere went towards a huge revelation while everything was breaking apart at the Imperial Palace.

“Just because your petty tricks worked and took out 5 of my teammates, it doesn’t mean that you’ll win.” Kreed said while trampling Raghav.

“I am Ranked 3rd in the strongest rookies of the Destroyer Faction while you aren’t even a full fledged team yet.”

He continued trampling as hard as he could. Raghav wasn’t even able to stand.

“What gives you the right to think that you can win against me? That Blank Card? That coward who didn’t even showed up when the real match started? He dared to disrespect me that day and now when it was a real battle, he ran away, abandoning you?”

He continued in an angry voice.

“Human trash and scum. Shit and mud runs in his blood. After all, he’s the descendent of those humans who left us all alone to fight this war. Because of them, we were forced into a corner and were left at the mercy of our fate! Those cowards, who didn’t even cared about our life. For them, this all is just a normal thing for us! Our life is not even a life in their eyes! All they care about is their own pathetic weak selves!”

Then he stomped really hard again on Raghav and released an earthquake inside his body.

“Guagh!” Raghav coughed blood in pain.

“Damn you!” Alisa shot a flame arrow and Elena shot a lightning bolt. But a Shielder from Kreed’s Team stopped those attacks easily.

Kreed took a deep breath and then continued.

“But enough of that now. I’ll form a team that will never lose to anyone. I’ll become even stronger than the 3 Godly Powers and then I’ll find the truth of the WNW myself. I’ll wipe away everyone who dares to look down on me. I'll control everything. I’ll CHANGE the fate we live in.”

“I don’t care what your dreams are! This world belongs to all of us and you have no right to control it however you want!” Varsha stepped forward angrily.

“You say that you are doing this for everyone? The truth is that you want a world where everything goes the way you want it to be. You are SELFISH!” Varsha angrily shot several balls of Magic at Kreed. But he easily dodged it by jumping backwards and around a few times.

Elena raised her hand and formed a bubble around Raghav and pulled him towards themselves. The other People prepared for attack. Alisa and Kenna took an alert battle stance.

“You say that you care about everyone but in reality, all you care about is yourself and that’s the truth, no matter how much you deny it. Your goal is to just force others to do your bidding. You want to be a god yourself. Forget about others, not even your own team will follow someone who fell so low as to walk a path of selfishness! Your own desires and lust have blinded you, Kreed.”

“Lust? How hypocrite, Varsha. Why did the Blank Card joined you?” Kreed asked with a serious face. “Wasn’t that because he wanted to be a harem king? Wasn’t it HIS lust? Wasn’t he after HIS selfish desires? And why did he left you? Wasn’t that HIS selfishness? Wasn’t he trying to make everything the way HE wanted?”

“You know nothing about what happened between us so shut your mouth.” Varsha glared.

“Yeah. Right. Then let’s talk about you. Why did YOU made him join your team? Why did YOU took the challenge for him? Why are YOU DEFENDING HIM WHEN HE ALREADY ABANDONED YOU?!!” Kreed asked in angry voice. “Isn’t this your selfish desire? Or is it your... lust for him?”

“You are crossing your limits now, Kreed.” Varsha’s Aura was getting intense. Some deadly Blue Aura leaked out of her body.

“Ah, that means I’m getting closer to the truth. So did you scarified something for him? A precious thing? Person? Power? Or maybe...... your life?”

[Writer note: Is this guy an almighty Guesser?]

“THAT’S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!!!” Varsha yelled in anger.

She formed a giant Magical Circle in front of herself and shot a pillar of Magical Aura. Everything around that pillar was erasing. It was vanishing even the things which it was not touching around itself.

“MASTER KREED!!!” 3 peoples jumped in front of him to save him. 2 of them formed a shield and tried to stop the impact. They succeeded... but at a cost.

[“Rank 2 Shielder, Rank 10 Shielder and Rank Ace Enhancer from Kreed Dragol’s Team have been defeated and sent back to lobby.”]

“That’s exactly what I hate in you People with higher status. You think of us as a bug which you can stop by force. But you’re sorely mistaken.” Kreed’s tone was sounding more and more angry.

His both arms got surrounded by a dark brown Aura.

“I'M STRONGER THAN YOU AND I’LL PROVE THAT MY WAYS ARE CORRECT!!!”

He slammed his hands on the ground with full force. He created a huge Earthquake. Everything started shaking and crumbling. Varsha raised her hands and formed a giant Magical Circle on her head and created a ball. She threw it at Kreed. Everything on the way was getting erased.

Elena took Raghav to safety while Alisa started showering Arrows at the opponent team. Kenna was throwing big rocks at them. The others were countering smoothly. It was just a one sided battle.

Then Alisa shot a freezing arrow at the sky and it divided into millions of smaller arrows. The whole ground started freezing. The opponent Archer shot an arrow to summon a barrier on themselves and blocked the arrows. Kenna was busy with the swordsman.

The healer was healing any damage that was caused to her team. It was making it harder for Varsha and the others to deal any huge damage.

“You are heavily mismatched. Look at your team’s condition. Just give up already. You are mine now.” Kreed said with a smug.

Back at my world...

[“The clear picture is something else entirely.”]

“What are you trying to point out?”

[“When a card enters your body, your life force gets connected with the card, right?”]

“Yeah. So what?”

[“That day, when Master suffered the backlash, his own card wasn’t inside him. He got his card later on. But that time, one card was inside Master and that card was...”]

My eyes widened in shock.

“The King Card...”

[“Yes. It was Miss Varsha’s King card. Your life was never sacrificed. She used her own life force to save you. A sacrifice that was made as a Master. She asked me not to tell you this. But if it’s for her safety, I can break the promise. Master misunderstood me and her, right from the very beginning.”]

“Stupid girl.” I held my head with both my hands. “Why did she have to go and do that?”

[“So what will Master do now?”]

“It was clear right from the start. I was just an asshole to not notice it sooner.”

I thought for a second and then I grabbed the controller.

“I'll take the right decision.”

I chose the option A and threw the controller away.

“Let’s go back... to my only friends.” I said while standing up.

[“As you command, Master.”]

Lily's voice sounded happy.

The Boss in the game stopped laughing.

[What? Why not give up? Why still fight? You are courting death!]

Then some cut-scenes started. The character killed the boss using some kickass powers.

“So I was supposed to die right from the start? Hah! That’s one weird way to victory!” I exclaimed.

My body started glowing and I vanished and teleported back to the Mansion. To the Mansion, where my team is.

I hope I can join the match in time.

As I teleported back in the hall, my eyes widened in shock.

Nothing was the same...

The Mansion...

WHO BURNED THE MANSION!!?