Is this really a Game?!



As Reign engaged in a fierce battle with the fake spirit, Liara positioned herself carefully. She knew that her role in this pivotal moment was to reach the Soulweaver's Monolith and establish a connection with the true spirit residing within it. She also understood that her unique soul made her the key to their success in this perilous endeavor.

The cavern echoed with the clash of swords, the roar of spells, and the eerie howls of the twisted guardians. It was a chaotic and treacherous battlefield, but Liara had faith in Reign's combat prowess to hold the fake spirit at bay.

Her eyes locked onto the intricate, pulsating runes that covered its surface, she noticed how the runes were becoming clearer, as if beckoning her to come closer.

Reign continued to taunt the fake spirit, keeping his attention firmly fixed on himself. "You're nothing but a puppet, a shadow of the true spirit!" he shouted, his lightning-infused sword striking with precision.

The fake spirit's frustration grew as he struggled to maintain his composure. He launched a barrage of dark energy attacks, each one deftly deflected by Reign's lightning-imbued swordplay.

Meanwhile, Laura used her magic to create protective barriers for their allies, shielding them from the relentless onslaught of the guardian creatures. Her eyes never left Reign and the spirit as she used her powers to blast the latter from afar as she saw just how dangerous her power was to the spirit.

'That might be why it went slowly at first, doing its best to show it holds no hostile intentions, it wanted to divide us and slowly get rid of us, probably because it knew how dangerous Laura was to him, as is Alistair.' Reign thought as he glanced to the side, having a clear view of Alistair who was fighting alongside 4 other people to deal with a Tier V guardian.

Usually, a Tier V would need about 10 Tier IVs to fight him in order for them to be able to win, but Alistair's powers dealt immense damage to the Tier V, so there was no need for so many to be present.

The battlefield was in chaos as everybody did their best to defeat their opponents, but the guardians were winning. It wasn't just because they had so many Tier Vs, but also because the artifact was there.

The spirit was unable to draw out the full power of the artifact, it could only use a little bit, but it was enough to continuously strengthen himself and the guardians. With the artifact being so close to them, its mere presence was enough to empower them, and with the spirit here, that effect was further strengthened.

The injuries the guardians received would heal incredibly quickly, they were all able to utilize soul power and deal damage directly to the soul, and they were all able to move at an incredible speed.

As far as the current situation went, they would need to have about 40 more Tier IVs at the very least in order to win.

They were doing everything they could to defeat the guardians, but with their incredible strength and crazy fast regenerative capabilities, it simply wasn't enough.

Even Basred and Siggurd, two Tier V combatants, were unable to fight a guardian by themselves, that was just how powerful the enemy was.

Reign, who previously held the advantage and was pushing the spirit back, was now on the back foot against it as it was getting stronger and stronger. A crazed expression could be seen on the spirit's face as it attacked Reign over and over again, it had even stopped caring that much about Laura and her attacks.

'Dammit, with the current situation, we won't be able to occupy them long enough for Liara to get to the artifact!' Reign cursed as he glanced over at Liara who was using her halberd to fight against a Tier IV guardian by herself, slowly inching toward the artifact in order to break into a sprint and get to it later.

'Dammit!'

'Do I truly need to use my transformation here?!'

'Is that the only way?'

Reign cursed the spirit inwardly as he blocked an attack before steeling himself. It would be very dangerous for him to use the transformation right now as they still had no idea what would wait for them outside, but it seemed like they would all die here if he didn't go all out as well.

He only needed to win against the spirit, and with his transformation, he was certain he could do enough damage to it, prompting the guardians to switch targets and to attack him.

'It is the only way, nothing else will allow us to gain enough advantage quickly for Liara to get to the artifact, nothing.' Reign exhaled deeply and stared into the spirit's eyes. 

The spirit, feeling that something was wrong, quickly jumped back as Reign's aura flared up, only for him to suddenly stop and widen his eyes as he felt something deep inside of him.

'The fruit, the power that was left inside us, it's showing itself!' Reign's eyes widened as he glanced at the others, only to find that everybody was suddenly glowing. They were covered by a thin layer of green aura, one that appeared from inside them all.

Their power suddenly increased, their regenerative capabilities improved, even their speed and the speed of their thoughts was higher now.

Suddenly, the difficult battle that was in front of them, the battle they were losing, became one they started winning. 

"World energy, that is a strand of world energy that was inside of you!" Aethion suddenly shouted with a shocked expression.

"Incredible, the Will hid the strand of world energy as it probably knew the spirit would notice it, it hid it so that it would only show itself and help you when it was truly necessary."

"With this, your victory is assured boy, you guys just need to hurry and not allow the spirit to continue increasing the strength of the guardians, as well as its own strength!"

Reign nodded as he charged forward. His speed had been increased by 50%, an incredible increase that allowed him to suddenly move faster than the spirit, allowing him to attack the latter with ease.

Suddenly, Reign slashed down before he kicked the spirit away and sped toward the artifact.

The spirit's eyes bulged out as he ran after him, his body turning bright red as his speed increased more and more.

"I won't let you!!!" The spirit screamed as Reign glanced back and slashed several times behind him in order to stop the spirit that quickly dodged some attacks, but was hit by two of them and forced to stop.

Its face, however, was not the same as before. The nervousness and shock were gone, replaced by a smirk as he stared at Reign who was only about 20 meters away from the artifact.

Just as Reign was about to move forward, he stopped before swinging his sword forward, aiming straight at the artifact.

The sword light didn't manage to travel a long distance before being stopped by red chains that suddenly appeared in front of it. They were all around the artifact, making it impossible for one to get to the artifact before destroying it.

A couple of explosions also took place as the swordlight passed.

"I thought it was too easy, you placed traps all around it, your goal was for us to blindly charge in and get ourselves killed, not bad." Reign said as he glanced back at the spirit who had a solemn expression on his face.

'Laura, Alistair, attack on my mark, the chains are demonic, your powers should work well on them.' 

Reign spoke telepathically with the two before attacking the chains several times. He was forced to stop as soon as the spirit came and attacked him.

'Liara, are you ready?'

'Yes.'

'Now!'

Suddenly, both Laura and Alistair used their strength to push their enemies back before focusing on the artifact. Both of them had previously created pentagrams on their bodies without being noticed by the spirit or guardians.

Reign had initially only wanted Laura to help, but as another demon hunter was present, it was best for him to help out as well.

Both Laura and Alistair suddenly grabbed something in the air before slashing downwards. A weapon that could barely be discerned by the naked eye appeared on their hands before dissipating quickly, but the attack had been made.

The ground in front of them was cut as a powerful blade light surged forward, attacking the chains and prompting the guardians to do their best to block it, but they were stopped by the others.

[ Cleave ]

That was the attack the two used, a powerful skill that could be learned by demon hunters. It was a simple one, it would use a demonic weapon to cut anything in front of the user in half, that was all.

'Use it again!' Reign suddenly shouted in their heads.

'But the artifact, what if we-'

'We could all attack it with full force and not even a scratch would be left, so don't worry about it and continue!'

The first two attacks destroyed plenty of the chains and fully occupied the guardians, allowing Liara to charge at the artifact, which made them all stare at her solemnly.