Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Combat] You took 3,237 damage from Retaking’s damage-over-time effect.
[Combat] You took 9,684 (-4,455) damage from Manju’s Savage Assault.
[Combat] You recovered 18,675 HP due to GodoongSora’s Foresight.
[Combat] You took 7,118 (-3,275) damage from Backhead Bash by MasterofSleep.
[Combat] You took 6,250 (-2,875) damage from Vein Slash by Manju.
[Combat] You resisted the Bleed effect due to GodoongSora’s Enhanced Immunity.
[Combat] Retaking recovered 10,900 HP from Healing Formula IX.
[Combat] Retaking recovered 6,071 HP from Wisdom of the High God.
[Combat] Retaking recovered 12,898 HP from Forbidden Mercy.
[Combat] You took 2,903 (-1,336) damage from Edge Stab by Retaking.
[Combat] You resisted the Bleed effect due to GodoongSora’s Enhanced Immunity.
[Combat] Retaking’s Research Virus XXI has mutated—duration reset.
It was chaos. Combat logs were flying by so fast I couldn’t even tell whether I was getting hit or healed. For a brief moment, I actually regretted not just quietly emailing him the video.

Still, I’d already started this, so I had to win. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself. But… to be honest, I wasn’t confident I could win.
No matter how much I hit him, no matter how hard our DPS went in once I drew aggro and tanked for them—Retaking’s HP never even dropped below half. Not once.
And I knew exactly why.

Their healers ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ knew full well he was going to be marked—and even if they didn’t, it was Retaking, so they went all in on healing him. Could I have gone for the healers first? If this weren’t a war with Retaking present, sure. But with him around? Not a chance.
The party with Retaking doesn’t fall until he falls. He knew precisely when damage would land and how much—it let him distribute heals with terrifying efficiency and keep everyone alive.
Of course, even he couldn’t heal forever. Occasionally a party member would die—but even that seemed calculated, as if he’d already factored it into his triage rotation. Meanwhile, the other Jeopa raids kept getting wiped, respawning, and running all the way back here. But Retaking’s unit? They held their ground.

Silontea had tried to slip into the backline and snipe a priest-destroyer but ended up getting caught by Retaking’s lightning-fast coverage. He went down and grumbled bitterly.
[Party] Silontea: AAAAAHHHH I swear one hit would've done it I--!!!!
[Party] Silontea: Fuckkk he’s unkillable; I’m losing my mind over here
Right? My thoughts exactly.

I interrupted one of Retaking’s heals while nodding along with Silontea. Meanwhile, Slayer—who had just respawned and was sprinting back—chimed in:
[Party] Slayer: Yeah, this is starting to feel hopeless
[Party] Silontea: For real
[Party] Slayer: Doesn’t help that it’s late and no one else is joining in from our side
[Party] Slayer: Might as well just retreat and DM him the video or something
[Party] Silontea: Yep yep
The vibe was growing more and more fatigued. I felt it too… but it just felt too wasteful to back out now. To lose a war I started? After everything I did? I even spent a full week’s worth of rep to activate my territory skill.

…That said, trying to talk the party into pushing forward was a stretch too. Slayer was right: we weren’t getting reinforcements, but Retaking’s stream was calling more and more bodies to his side by the minute. We could keep fighting, sure—but there was no guarantee we’d win.
So… do I give up here?
But man, it’d sting.

Losing now would suck. Dying would suck. But winning? That was looking pretty tough too. Still, I wanted to go with the one option that didn’t sting and might not lose.
I blocked the incoming attacks as best I could, my mind racing. Wasn’t there any way to win? If I could activate the Avatar skill like yesterday, I could shift the tide. But I had already used my territory skill—and you can’t use Avatar during its duration. Even if I could, Retaking would pop his too. Plus… defeating him with Avatar didn’t feel satisfying anyway…
Wait. Avatar?

A thought struck me, and I quickly scanned the surrounding Jeopa players. Only two of them—including Retaking—had the rank of Supreme Commander or General.
But on our side? We had five—including me—who could become Avatars right now.
[Party] Honeybread: Hey guys
I stopped tanking for a second just to type. My HP dropped fast, but I trusted Goso.

[Party] Silontea: Hmm?
[Party] Silontea: Retreat?
[Party] Honeybread: Pop Avatar
[Party] Slayer: ???
[Party] FlipIt: ???
[Party] Silontea: Huh??
[Party] Nickjung: What??
Yeah, I figured I’d get a flood of “???” responses. Goso, who was too busy healing to type, was probably yelling a silent ??? at me too.

[Party] Honeybread: First strike
[Party] Honeybread: Victory, baby ^^!
[Party] Nickjung: There’s a war tonight
[Party] Nickjung: And you want us
[Party] Nickjung: to use Avatar now?
Every Thursday, there was a guaranteed large-scale faction war post-patch. The unspoken rule was to save Avatar for it. But it’s not like I was the only Supreme-ranked player—we had five more. And it wasn’t a rule, anyway. Just a courtesy by top players to save it for wars.

But to me, beating Retaking was way more important than a scheduled war.
[Party] Honeybread: Use Avatar
[Party] Honeybread: 200
Two hundred. Everyone knew that meant 2,000,000 Amber, the game’s currency. And right after I typed that—

[Race Chat] Supreme Commander Silontea has descended at the Cliff of Final Breath as the True Avatar of the Night.
[Race Chat] Angel: ??
[Race Chat] Supreme Commander Nickjung has descended at the Cliff of Final Breath as the True Avatar of the Night.
[Race Chat] BreakupBro: ??
[Race Chat] Angel: ???
[Race Chat] GwiYomiq: Uh… what is happening?
Silontea and Nickjung understood instantly and went full Avatar.
A moment later, FlipIt and Slayer pinged me in party chat.

[Party] FlipIt: 200??? Like 200k?
[Party] Slayer: …Seriously?
[Party] Slayer: For real?
[Party] Honeybread: Yup
[Race Chat] Supreme Commander FlipItIfItsPancake has descended at the Cliff of Final Breath as the True Avatar of the Night.
[Race Chat] GwiYomiq: No seriously what IS going on????
[Race Chat] Angel: Chill—why are three people Avatar-ing right now?
Even the Jeopa players near me stopped attacking. They were clearly stunned.

Retaking must’ve panicked, too—he tried to fall back, probably planning to move to a safe zone and reassess.
Yeah, nope. I’ve been waiting just for you.
I cast Capture and reeled Retaking back in. The others scrambled to keep their distance, but I locked him down. He was going nowhere.

[Party] Honeybread: I’ll kill Retaking
[Party] Honeybread: If I do
[Party] Honeybread: +50
[Party] Slayer: Screw it, I’m in lol
[Race Chat] Slayer: Sorry, gotta make my 2.5 mil~
[Race Chat] Supreme Commander Slayer has descended at the Cliff of Final Breath as the True Avatar of the Night.
[Race Chat] ThisIsShellGame: What the HELL is going on LOL
[Race Chat] CodRoeConan: Who’s paying 2.5 mil for someone to use Avatar? Are the Butterflies bribing people???
[Race Chat] ByeBye: Wait who the hell is offering $250 to enemy commanders??
[Race Chat] Honeybread: Sorry, that’s me
[Race Chat] ByeBye: ??
[Race Chat] MagpieWeeps: 250??
[Race Chat] CodRoeConan: ?? LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
[Race Chat] RockPaperScissors: Two-fifty WHATTTTTTT lmaoooooo
[Race Chat] Supreme General GodoongSora has descended at the Cliff of Final Breath as the True Avatar of the Night.
[Race Chat] PoppinCrusher: Legend-tier

Even quiet Goso activated Avatar. Now, five high-ranking players with their wings spread wide stood at my side. It was perfect.
[Normal Chat] Retaking: ?
[Normal Chat] Retaking: ?
[Normal Chat] Retaking: ?
[Normal Chat] Retaking: >?
As Retaking scrambled with self-buffs and movement tricks trying to escape, I kept him locked down and reeled him back in. My fingers flew across the keys.

[Party] Honeybread: Clear the field
[Party] Honeybread: I want to be the one to kill Retaking^^
[Party] Silontea: ^^7
[Party] FlipIt: ^^7
[Party] Slayer: ^^7
[Party] Nickjung: ^^7
[Party] GodoongSora: lol ^^7
Everyone saluted in chat, then charged after the retreating Jeopa forces. They spread their wings and sprinted forward, cutting down players one after another. Every neatly coordinated party that tried to resist was wiped instantly. This was a slaughter.
Considering it usually takes two to three parties to take down a single Avatar, the result was inevitable.

And just like that, the battlefield emptied.
Only the two of us remained.