DING!
[WORLD EVENT - RANK EVENT STARTING.
TELEPORTING TO A NEW MAP.
SURVIVAL MODE.
NOTE: RESPAWN ACTIVATED UPON ELIMINATION.]
I didn't even get to blink before the world ripped open.
Light swallowed me whole, and suddenly I was...
...falling?
"WAAAAAAAIT.....WHY AM I FALLING?!?!"
Wind slapped my face, hair whipping everywhere. I looked down and saw ground. Lots of ground. Rushing toward me at murder speed.
"Oh come on! I TURNED THE THING OFF FOR A REASON!" I screamed, but it didn't matter. My voice was lost to the roar of the air tearing past me.
My hands were shaking, my brain went blank, but Leonhart's instincts kicked in like divine caffeine. I drew my sword, pointed it down, and yelled the first thing that came to mind...
"Heaven's Judgment!"
Light split the sky. The blade blazed, a streak of sun cutting through clouds as I slammed into the ground.
BOOM.
The explosion ripped through the plains. Dust and fire burst in every direction. I hit the ground hard, rolled twice, and coughed through smoke thick enough to choke a dragon.
When the world finally stopped shaking, I blinked,
and stared.
Bodies. Scorched earth.
And me, standing in the middle of a crater.
"Oh my god..." I gasped, staring at the smoking field. "Did I just...eliminate eighteen people by falling?!"
Silence. Then, in the distance, a single, echoing laugh.
"Eunji!"
Kael's voice. Of course.
I turned and spotted him perched on a broken stone arch, dark armor gleaming under the chaotic sky, that smug grin plastered on his face.
"That's one way to enter," he called out.
"DON'T LAUGH AT ME!" I shouted back, dusting myself off. "I NEARLY BECAME LANDSCAPE DECOR!"
He shrugged, twin daggers twirling in his hands. "Could've been worse. You could've hit me."
I stomped my foot. "Keep laughing, and I'll make sure I do next time!"
But before I could even yell again, the ground shook. Screams erupted across the battlefield. Magic flared from every direction, lightning, fire, frost.
Then came the heat.
"Oh no..." I turned, and my stomach dropped.
Fire. Waves of it, devouring trees, hills, people. The whole section of the forest map was turning into an inferno.
That could only mean one person.
"Zeref," I muttered, wide-eyed. "Of course he's here."
The air shimmered as an entire valley went up in flames. I could practically hear his smug laughter from across the horizon.
It was chaos, total, beautiful chaos.
Spells crashed like thunder. Steel clanged, voices screamed, explosions turned the world into a blur of smoke and sparks.
And somewhere in that madness, people were dying, not permanently, but violently enough that they'd be knocked back to wherever they were before the event started.
Their bodies shimmered and vanished with each elimination, flashes of light marking their defeat before reappearing safely in the normal world.
No one wanted to go out early. Not when the top hundred players would earn the right to fight in the Grand Arena.
I pulled my sword free from the dirt, caught my breath, and squared my stance.
"Alright," I muttered, gripping the hilt tight. "No dying. Not today."
The next moment, three figures charged out of the smoke.
I swung instinctively, clash, parry, step back, duck, Leonhart's body moving faster than my thoughts. Steel met steel, sparks flew, and the rush of adrenaline drowned everything else out.
The first one fell. The second tried to flank, and I spun, catching them mid-lunge. The third, smart enough to hesitate, barely dodged before I kicked him square in the chest.
He didn't get back up.
I stood there panting, chest heaving, the world tilting a little from the sheer realness of it all.
This wasn't some harmless spar or digital grind. This was real pain, real exhaustion, real survival.
A figure blurred past me, Kael, blades flashing. He moved like liquid shadow, cutting through a crowd of fighters like they were paper. His movements were too clean, too graceful.
Meanwhile, mine were a mix of flailing, yelling, and desperate blocking.
"STOP AIMING FOR MY FACE!" I shouted at one enemy as I parried a hit that nearly took my ear off.
Someone tried sneaking behind me. "Oh no you don't!" I spun, backhanding them with the flat of my sword before kicking them off a cliff.
They vanished midair, eliminated.
"That counts!" I yelled after them, breathing hard.
Kael's voice drifted over again, teasing. "You scream more than you swing!"
"That's called battle strategy!" I barked back, blocking another sword and smashing its owner in the ribs.
He chuckled, even while fighting. "Then keep screaming. It's working."
I wanted to hit him. Or maybe kiss him. I wasn't sure which came first.
The earth cracked again, sending tremors up my legs. Dust rose. Fire raged. The whole map was collapsing into one massive battlefield of desperate survivors.
Zeref's inferno stretched across the horizon, Kael's shadow moves slicing through enemies, and me, bleeding, exhausted, furious, still standing.
I didn't care about the ranking anymore. I just didn't want to go down before him.
Lightning flashed as another fighter lunged. I countered, twisted, and swung upward with everything I had. The blade connected.
And just like that, silence.
Smoke drifted. The battlefield was still.
My legs gave out, and I dropped to my knees, panting. My arms felt like lead. My entire body burned, scraped, bruised. But I was alive.
Then a faint hum filled the air, followed by a voice echoing through the skies.
[TOP 100 COMBATANTS REMAINING. PREPARE FOR ARENA TRANSFER.]
The horizon shimmered. Pillars of light began to rise, wrapping around each survivor still standing.
I tilted my head back and laughed weakly. "I made it..."
Boots crunched beside me.
Kael stood there, as calm and infuriatingly smug as ever, blades resting casually at his sides. "Told you you'd make it."
I raised a shaky hand and flipped him off. "Next time... I'm spawning on solid ground."
He crouched, smirk tugging at his mouth. "No promises."
The light intensified, surrounding us both, warm and blinding. My fingers trembled as I gripped my sword tighter, feeling the world tilt again.
The air shimmered, pulling us upward.
The Arena awaited.
And this time,
I wasn't falling.
I was ready to fly.