Dusk (BL Light Novel)

Seven minutes had passed since the battle began at 9:49. It was now 9:56, and both our HP bars were still just barely approaching 50%.
Even if it was a tank versus healer match, normally a fight like this would be over in under ten minutes. Most of my duels with Retaking a Class usually ended within five. But this one was dragging on.

If I just stood still and let myself die, it would definitely be over before 10. If I didn't interfere, he could deal his damage comfortably, and the duel would wrap quickly. Besides, knowing Retaking, he was probably annoyed and trying to screw with me on purpose—so if I just let it happen, he might lose interest and give up on his own.
But my pride wouldn't let me.
Letting someone win just because I had an appointment? That wasn't the mindset of a ranker. If anything, the correct mindset was to kill fast to keep your appointment—not lose fast.

Right now, Retaking was at about 47% HP, and I was at 55%. On the surface, I looked slightly ahead, but if you looked at the status window full of virus debuffs crawling across it, I was clearly not in a better position. I’d messed up earlier in the mind game and let two extra DoTs stick to me.
Virus I, Virus II, Research Virus IV, Flu Virus, Mutated Virus II, Mutated Virus LII, Mutated Flu Virus, Discarded Miasma.
Every kind of DoT was nibbling away at my HP.
The only silver lining was that two of them were about to expire—

[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Discarded Miasma has mutated. Duration has been reset.
“…Ah.”
[Combat] The skill Holy Aegis has ended.

[Combat] You have taken 21,709 damage from Retaking a Class’s skill Mutated Virus Extract.
[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Mutated Virus II has ended.
[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Mutated Virus LII has ended.

[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Mutated Flu Virus has ended.
[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Regenerative Miasma has ended.
[Combat] You have been paralyzed due to stacking effects of Mutated Virus Extract.

My character froze mid-motion.
Paralysis. I’d been hit with a status effect.
[Normal] Honeybread: 10;;;

[Normal] Retaking a Class: 0-(-<
[Normal] Honeybread: amrleisoavibdnmeorl
[Normal] Retaking a Class: ;-;) ?
What an unlucky bastard. Even your nickname suits your whole vibe.

Ugh, forget Retaking for a second—I hate the Medic class so much… You call yourself a healer, and yet you're spreading and mutating viruses, extracting them, and dealing massive damage? I honestly have no idea what the developers were thinking. Sometimes it felt like the Medic was helping viruses survive, not players.
That Mutated Virus Extract skill was basically the Harmonizer Medic’s last-resort weapon in 1v1 combat. It removed all mutated viruses, then dealt high-percent HP-scaled damage—so for me, a Holy Guardian who thrived on HP scaling, it was basically poison.
Worse, for every virus extracted, the Medic got a stacking Research buff—and once that hit four stacks, the target got paralyzed.

That was honestly immoral. Sapping 15% of your HP and paralyzing you too?
While I was locked in paralysis, Retaking popped a fast-cast heal to restore some health. Then he began casting more virus DoTs. I could probably counter one of them with my immunity skill once paralysis ended—but this was Retaking. He’d definitely stop casting the moment I popped immunity, just to screw with me.
[Combat] Paralysis has ended.

As soon as the paralysis wore off, instead of using an immunity skill, I charged straight at him with a dash skill. And as I’d predicted, he stopped casting the moment I did. He must have anticipated this—he used a resistance skill right away.
If you get hit by Vanguard Command, the Holy Guardian's dash skill, it causes stun. That’s why he resisted.
[Combat] You have dealt 2,547 damage to Retaking a Class with Vanguard Command.

[Combat] Retaking a Class resisted the stun from Vanguard Command.
[Combat] You have dealt 5,611 damage to Retaking a Class with Shield Slam.
[Combat] Retaking a Class resisted the taunt from Shield Slam.

Even though the Medic was a ranged class, Retaking didn’t back away. That’s because in Harmonizer Stance, melee skills became the core of Medic PvP.
DoT casting from a distance had good DPS, but in PvP, where crowd control and status effects mattered more, using melee skills with more status effects was essential.
So despite being a ranged class, Medics were paradoxically forced into melee range for PvP.

I landed a solid hit with the shield and staggered him slightly, then got into position at his flank and unleashed a series of sword techniques radiating cold energy.
[Combat] You have dealt 2,908 damage to Retaking a Class with Desperate Sword Aura.
[Combat] You have dealt 3,532 damage to Retaking a Class with Desperate Slash.

[Combat] You have dealt 4,097 damage to Retaking a Class with Desperate Blow.
[Combat] You have taken 4,044 damage from Retaking a Class’s damage-over-time effects.
[Combat] Retaking a Class has healed 16,198 HP using the effect of Foresight.

[Combat] Sediers has dealt 8,890 damage to Retaking a Class using Desperate Strike.
[Combat] Retaking a Class has healed 12,958 HP from Healing Acceleration.
Retaking had completely recovered all the health I’d just chipped away at.

At least one of the high-coefficient skills had crit, so I hadn’t totally wasted it… but still. His healing power was insane.
Now there were only two minutes left until 10 o’clock.
Retaking’s HP: 51%.

It took at least 5 to 6 minutes on average to take him from 100 to 0. Killing a 50%-HP healing-spec Medic in under two minutes? Not happening.
Was I really about to let Retaking drag this past 10?
The people I was supposed to Party PvP with were all close friends. Even if I was late, it wouldn't be a big deal. They were probably watching this match right now, laughing. At most, they’d tease me and ask why I was late. I’d tank a little extra in the next round and we’d be even.

So being late wouldn’t damage my reputation. But being held hostage by Retaking past 10? That’d hurt my pride.
This wasn’t about win or loss. What mattered was who held the reins of the fight. Who controlled the mind game. Who drove the other.
And right now, it was Retaking who had the initiative.

Even if he lost, he’d probably say on stream, “Hey, but I had him on a leash the whole time. I’m satisfied.” And he’d say it in that sweet, mellow voice of his, all smug and self-satisfied.
This was just like that. What mattered wasn’t victory—it was dominance.
And Retaking had it.

If the fight didn’t ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) end by 10, and I ended up quitting, getting force-logged, or declaring surrender—it would be his perfect win. It would mean everything had gone exactly as he planned.
I couldn’t let that happen.
At least not in a 1v1 against Retaking.

If I wanted to take control back, I had two options: either unleash perfect control… or do something totally unexpected.
On impulse, I activated a commander-exclusive skill I hadn’t used even once in all our past fights.
[Combat] Supreme Commander: You have used the skill True Incarnation of Night.

[System] Supreme Commander: You have cast True Incarnation of Night. You will be unable to earn Fame for the next 120 minutes.
It was a skill I had never used against Retaking before. In fact, it was extremely rare to use this one in 1v1 at all.