Noctis Noir

Epsilon was out of ideas. She could very well defend herself and Magnus, but she wasn't confident about protecting her friends who were busy fighting off the mobs. They were too far away for her abilities to reach.

"Farewell," the ex-guildmaster said with a smile before doing the hand wave that signaled the swords to pierce.

Epsilon used her marionette to shield herself and Magnus. The swords were about to pierce Lyria, Tank, and Sed when their trajectories suddenly changed at the last minute after they were hit by bullets with precision.

"Thank goodness we made it in time," Wen said in relief while still holding his gun. He, Ileanna, and Li Yuan worked together to shoot all the swords.

Alice was behind them feeding the tired Kimmy who rushed to bring them all back to the city.

"Let's go, Anna!" Luna readied her shield and ran to the heart of the battlefield. She slashed down every soldier in her way.

"Ahh! Getting to fight alongside the warrior beauty again! I'm so lucky today," Anna blushed and smiled as she buffed everyone with protection spells.

Jasmine and Sphinx used their invisibility skill to sneak up behind soldiers and assassinate them.

While the rest were busy fighting, Garth and Astrid gathered up the rescued players and moved them to a safer location using the portal they created.

"Got an update from Astrid. She said all the players have been evacuated. You can fight to your heart's content," Frisk passed the message to all the allies.

All of them smiled at the message. Getting to unleash their full power was definitely good news.

"Alright! I'm going all-out!" Luna buffed herself up.

"Aah! So cool!" Anna fangirled at the side as she played her lute for a constant protection buff. "I dedicate this song to you, the warrior beauty!"

"Wen," the ex-guildmaster recognized his former ally standing on top of a building. He was definitely unhappy about the reinforcements. They were ruining his fun.

"Cecil. I had a feeling it was you who was behind all this." Wen recognized him back. Of course he did. Cecil was one of the people he had to spend long hours with when Aries was still in development. "What did you do to Elris?"

"Believe me, Wen. I have no clue where Elris is. I've been looking for him, but he always escapes. He's such an elusive guy, unlike you."

"The defense committee has to stay in the front lines after all. You've become a monster, Cecil. You dare kill innocent people in the name of power. That includes my committee members."

"I'm terribly sorry about your committee members, but I had to eliminate everyone in my way. Plus, I wanted to show you how you need outside help to make this world safer. You and Elris can't do anything alone. Look at where your flimsy defense got you! Look at how many casualties were caused because you failed to prevent something like this! Even if I wasn't around, someone is bound to cause a disaster like this because you've made it possible."

Wen remained silent. Cecil was right. All this happened because he and Elris didn't invest enough into buffing up Aries' defenses.

"But it's too late to do anything now. You can never bring back the lives that were lost. Let this tragedy haunt you for the rest of your life, Wen."

A mysterious shadow flew right above them.

"What's that up in the air?" Lyria squinted her eyes.

There was a figure of a dragon high up in the clouds. Someone appeared to be riding it.

"A dragon?" Tank couldn't believe it.

Lyria sighed. "We already have enough on our hands. I really don't want a bloody dragon joining in the fight."

Sed was beginning to wake up after losing consciousness. "Ugh. What did I miss?"

"Not much. We're about to be attacked by a dragon," Tank replied.

"Wait what!?" Sed wished he was back to being unconscious.

"It's coming!" Lyria shouted.

It began to swoop down low towards them. Tank and Lyria prepared their shields. When the dragon was meters away, it attacked them with raging fire. They all screamed at the top of their lungs together. Until...

"Wait. I'm getting healed?" Tank realized his health was back up. His physical wounds were also regenerating from the dragon fire. "I don't believe this!"

"This feels absolutely amazing," Sed said as he relished the rejuvenating effects of the dragon fire.

The dragon moved to attack the spawner portals and destroyed them one by one. Cecil looked distraught as his summoned portals were mercilessly crushed.

"Since when did we have a dragon ally?" Wen asked the rest of the people with him.

The others shrugged and looked just as confused.

"It's coming this way!" Sphinx shouted.

The dragon went straight towards them at a fast speed. They couldn't help but have the urge to run and scream. When it blew fire on them, they screamed even more. Until...

"I'm healed!?" Sphinx noticed that his injuries from the battles at the floating castle were disappearing. His body no longer felt painful.

"Woah! I feel like I can do a hundred pushups!" Luna exclaimed.

"Thank you, Mr. Dragon!" Anna waved.

"I've never seen anything like this." Wen was amazed. He never thought this type of healing was possible in artificial worlds. There was only one person who had the talent to even reach this level of development. Was this his doing?

"There's someone on top of the dragon!" Jasmine pointed. The rest looked up. Indeed, there was a figure of a person.

The dragon suddenly swirled uncontrollably as if it drunk several pints of alcohol. Sounds of a person screaming could be heard. It began flying erratically away from the scene.

"Whaaa! I'll be back!" the mysterious dragon rider shouted before vanishing from view.

Cecil laughed. "I didn't expect you to have this many allies, Wen. I'm surprised. You've always worked in the shadows and gone on missions alone."

"Yeah, well... You meet some helpful people along the way. Where did your allies go?" Wen asked.

"Back at base. I came here alone."

"Well, that's good then. I'd feel sorry if they had to die in the crossfire."

Cecil smirked. "You really intend to defeat me?"

"If it ends this whole disaster, then I'll pierce a bullet through your head." Wen loaded up his gun.

With the soldiers gone, everyone's attention was on the ex-guildmaster. They prepared themselves for battle.