ENTER Online

The air in the tournament arena crackled with anticipation as the last ten contestants prepared for the ultimate battles. The crowd's roar had died to a tense murmur, everyone understanding that what they were about to witness would determine the true champions of the Rage Tournament.

Krad and his companions had secured prime seats in the competitor's section after Hanan's registration, their eyes fixed on the battlefield below. The arena had been transformed yet again, this time into a massive circular platform surrounded by floating observation decks that rotated slowly to give spectators the best possible view.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer's voice boomed across the coliseum. "Welcome to the last phase of the preliminary Rage Tournament! Ten warriors remain, and only the five strongests will claim victory!"

The arena floor shimmered as magical barriers rose around the combat zone. Two figures materialized on opposite sides of the platform through teleportation circles.

On the eastern side stood Bruwa, the Elf Archer. Her yellow braided hair flowed like golden chains, and her emerald eyes held a cold fire that made even seasoned warriors shift uncomfortably. She now wore form-fitting leather armor that seemed to absorb light, and her bow, a magnificent weapon of dark wood and silver inlay, hummed with barely contained power.

DING!

SYSTEM INTERFACE

Level: 234

Class: Elf Archer

Title: The Moonless Hunter

Health: 15,000/15,000

Mana: 8,500/8,500

Abilities Unlocked: 47/50

On the western side materialized Sword Saint Lyra, a woman whose very presence seemed to bend reality around her. She appeared to be in her early thirties, with long auburn hair bound in an elaborate braid and wearing flowing white robes that moved as if touched by an invisible wind. Most striking were the fifty ethereal swords that orbited around her like a constellation of deadly stars.

DING!

SYSTEM INTERFACE

Level: 287

Class: Sword Saint

Title: The Blade Empress

Health: 19,000/19,000

Mana: 11,000/11,000

Abilities Unlocked: 50/50

Special: Fifty Blade Mastery

In the spectator stands, Hanan gripped Queen Hania's hand tightly. "She looks different," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "Colder. More... empty."

Queen Hania nodded sadly. "The corruption has taken deeper root. She's no longer just angry, she's become something else entirely."

Krad activated his Lunar Sense, trying to read Bruwa's spiritual pressure, but what he found made his blood run cold. Her aura wasn't just dark, it was hungry. It pulsed with an artificial pain that seemed to feed on itself, growing stronger with each wave of false grief.

"Something's wrong," Krad muttered. "Her power... it doesn't feel natural."

"Because it isn't," Queen Hania replied grimly. "You're sensing the Red God's influence. Every emotion she feels, every memory she carries, it's all been weaponized."

"FIGHTERS, PREPARE!" the announcer called out.

Bruwa raised her bow, and immediately the temperature in the arena dropped several degrees. Frost began forming on the ground around her feet, and her breath became visible in the suddenly frigid air.

"Interesting," Lyra said, her voice carrying across the arena despite being barely above a whisper. "Another elf. Tell me, child, do you fight for honor, or for something darker?"

"I fight for the dead," Bruwa replied, her voice hollow and mechanical. "For the family that abandoned me. For the love that was never real."

Lyra's expression shifted to one of pity. "Ah. You fight for ghosts. How very sad."

"BEGIN!" the announcer shouted.

The battle erupted instantly. Bruwa's bow sang as she drew back the string, and a dozen arrows of pure ice materialized, each one glowing with corrupt divine energy. They fired in perfect sequence, creating a deadly rain that would have overwhelmed any normal opponent.

But Lyra was far from normal.

"Sword Formation: Defensive Ring," she said calmly.

Twenty of her floating swords spun into a protective barrier around her, deflecting the ice arrows with perfect precision. The remaining thirty swords began to orbit faster, building momentum.

DING!

BRUWA'S SYSTEM ALERT

Skill Activated: Frost Arrow Barrage

Damage: 0 (Blocked)

Mana Cost: 200

Status: Analyzing enemy patterns

"You're skilled," Lyra acknowledged, "but you fight like someone who has forgotten why they're fighting."

"I know exactly why I'm fighting," Bruwa snarled, her composure cracking slightly. "To prove that strength is all that matters. That love is weakness."

She drew her bow again, but this time the arrow that formed was different. It was made of pure shadow, and it pulsed with the same artificial grief that Queen Hania had described.

"Corrupted Shot: Hollow Pain," Bruwa whispered.

The arrow flew faster than the eye could follow, passing through Lyra's sword barrier as if it were made of mist. It struck the Sword Saint directly in the chest, and she staggered backward, her face contorting in unexpected anguish.

DING!

LYRA'S SYSTEM ALERT

Debuff Applied: Hollow Pain

Effect: Experiencing artificial emotional trauma

Duration: 30 seconds

Warning: This is not your pain, resist the false memories

"What... what is this?" Lyra gasped, her hand pressed to her chest. "This grief... it's not mine."

"It's everyone's," Bruwa said, her voice growing stronger as she fed off Lyra's confusion. "Everyone who has ever been abandoned. Everyone who has ever trusted and been betrayed. Everyone who has ever loved and lost."

She fired another hollow arrow, then another. Each one carried a different flavor of artificial suffering, the pain of a child left alone, the anguish of a warrior watching comrades die, the despair of a lover betrayed.

But Lyra was a Sword Saint for a reason. Even as the false emotions threatened to overwhelm her, she began to fight back.

"Sword Formation: Purification Circle," she commanded.

Her fifty swords rearranged themselves into a complex geometric pattern, each blade beginning to glow with pure white light. The artificial grief that had been clouding her mind began to dissipate.

DING!

LYRA'S SYSTEM ALERT

Skill Activated: Purification Circle

Effect: Cleansing debuffs and false emotions

Status: Mental clarity restored

Warning: Enemy using corrupted divine energy

"I understand now," Lyra said, her voice steady once more. "You're not fighting me. You're fighting the pain that someone else put inside you."

"Shut up!" Bruwa screamed, her careful composure completely shattered. "You don't know anything about my pain!"

She drew her bow fully, and this time the arrow that formed was massive, a bolt of pure corruption that seemed to devour light itself. "Ultimate Shot: Void!"

The arrow flew with such force that it cracked the arena floor and sent shockwaves through the protective barriers. But Lyra was ready.

"Sword Formation: Absolute Defense!"

All fifty of her swords moved simultaneously, creating a wall of interlocking blades. The corrupted arrow struck the formation and exploded in a burst of dark energy, but the sword barrier held.

"Now," Lyra said, her voice filled with determination, "let me show you what real strength looks like."

"Sword Formation: Judgernaut!"

Thirty of Lyra's swords launched themselves at Bruwa, but these weren't ordinary attacks. Each blade carried with it a sense of absolute clarity, designed to cut through illusions and reveal reality.

Bruwa dodged desperately, her enhanced elf reflexes pushed to their limit. But she couldn't avoid them all. Three swords grazed her, and where they touched, the corruption began to waver.

"No!" Bruwa cried out as flashes of true memory began to surface. "I can't... I won't let you take my pain away! It's all I have left!"

She raised her bow again, but her hands were shaking. The artificial grief that had sustained her for years was being challenged by something she had forgotten existed, hope.

"Your pain isn't real," Lyra said gently, her remaining swords forming a protective circle around her. "Someone put it there to use you. But underneath all that artificial suffering, you're still who you were meant to be."

"I don't know who I was meant to be!" Bruwa shouted, tears streaming down her face. "I only know the pain! I only know the abandonment! Take that away, and I'm nothing!"

"You're wrong," Lyra replied, her voice filled with compassion. "You're someone's daughter. Someone's sister. Someone who was loved before the corruption took hold."

In the stands, Hanan had tears streaming down her face. "She's fighting so hard to hold onto something that's destroying her," she whispered. "How can we save someone who doesn't want to be saved?"

Queen Hania squeezed her daughter's hand. "By showing her that love is stronger than artificial pain. By proving that family doesn't abandon, it endures."

Krad was watching intently, his Lunar Sense detecting the battle between corruption and clarity happening within Bruwa. "The Red God's influence is fighting back," he observed. "Every time Lyra's swords reveal truth, something else pushes the corruption deeper."

Mist nodded grimly. "She's not just fighting Lyra. She's fighting the very essence of what she's become."

Miss Vice was crying openly. "She's so young. To carry that much pain at her age..."

"It's not her pain," Drugo said quietly. "That's what makes it so cruel. She's suffering for emotions that were never hers to begin with."

Bruwa staggered backward, her bow trembling in her hands. The truth that Lyra's swords had revealed was warring with the artificial memories that had defined her existence.

"I can't," she whispered. "I can't let go of the pain. Without it, I'm nothing. Without it, I'm just... alone."

"You're not alone," Lyra said, slowly approaching with her hands raised peacefully. "You have family watching you right now. Family that never stopped loving you, even when you couldn't remember them."

"Lies," Bruwa said, but her voice lacked conviction. "My family abandoned me. They chose to die rather than fight for me."

"Look up," Lyra said gently. "Look at the stands. Look at the woman with silver hair and emerald eyes. Look at the young woman beside her who's crying for you."

Bruwa's gaze lifted, and for a moment, her eyes met Hanan's across the arena. The corruption wavered, and for just an instant, she looked like the child she should have been.

"Sister..." she whispered.

But then the Red God's influence surged back, stronger than ever. Bruwa's eyes went cold again, and she raised her bow one final time.

"Even if they are here," she said, her voice returning to its hollow tone, "it doesn't matter. I've become something they could never love. I've done things they could never forgive. I'm better off alone."

She drew back the string, and the arrow that formed was unlike anything she had created before. It was made of pure despair, concentrated into a single point of absolute destruction.

The arrow flew with such speed and power that it seemed to tear reality itself. But Lyra was ready with her own ultimate technique.

"Sword Formation: Pentagon!"