MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

"How did you get killed?" Alex questioned, knowing there were hardly a few players who could threaten Andrei's life, and he was also not stupid to stay in a fight he knew was out of his league unless forced to.

"It was the leader of Heavenly Sirens, a female named Evangeline, and brother, let me tell you, she is a monster, maybe even stronger than Killian, with her mastery over her weird magic,"

"She could summon energy orbs of various elements, ranging from pure flames, frost, eroding darkness, gravity, and even healing energy," Andrei said, stopping after hearing Alex's question.

"What did you do to pick a fight with her," Alex asked, quite surprised because he knew that Evangeline had too aloof of a personality to go around picking random fights.

"I didn't. That bezumnaya (crazy woman) came looking for me and threatened to torture us until I gave up your location," Andrei said, his anger evident in his voice.

'She was looking for me?' Alex questioned, feeling surprised by the revelation.

'First, it was Killian and now Evangeline, both individuals who should have been staying in the shadows for a couple of years, but they made their appearance at the event and came directly at me without us having any previous encounter,'

'It surely couldn't be a coincidence or as simple as a way to gain fame because those two were going to be famous after the event even if they didn't perform to their best,' Alex thought, his mind working on the possible reasons.

Alex knew of the Eleven Kings, who ruled the ranking of players, crowned by players with such a title because of their dominant power, which seemed unachievable even for the player who stood at the pinnacle.

Alex was also aware of various theories that floated in the game forum, guessing the powers backing these anomalies among the players, and one way or another, those theories linked them to hidden powers, governments, or figures of uncountable wealth and influence.

"Next time she comes to you, give her my location," Alex said after thinking for a moment.

"Although I lost my life, she was not the one who killed me, and In a way, I not only emerged victorious but also forced her to flee or maybe get killed," Andrei said, giving Alex another shock because he knew against Evangeline Star magic, his brother had little chance of fleeing let alone victory.

"How?" Alex asked, thinking maybe Evangeline was not as strong as he expected her to be.

"I was with Saahira outside the capital city doing a quest when we encountered Evangeline, and after exchanging a few moves, we knew that she was out of our league from the sheer firepower she was capable of commanding,"

"Saahira decided to use her purification flames to keep me alive while I worked to destroy the gravity barrier protecting Evangeline, with our plan being to use her Mindflame Incursion skill to end the battle,"

"Things went as planned, as Saahira hit Evangeline with the mind-consuming flames, yet she didn't fall to the mental torment, making our plan fall apart,"

"I made Saahira leave, and without her backing me, I lost the little advantage I held, and from then on, it was a one-sided battle,"

"She did as she said and began to tear my body apart with various elemental attacks, healing me back to recovery every time I was losing too much health," Andrei said, and hearing that Alex truly felt bloodlust, for a moment, his mind went to a dark place.

"You moron, why did you not give her my location? Did you think I would lose, and even if I did lose, what does it change?" Alex said, his anger evident in his voice.

"No, No, I knew you would have won, but I was just being selfish,"

"I was being dominated in both fights, but against Killian, I felt shame and anger, but against Evangeline, it was excitement,"

"I wanted the battle to continue because I saw her as a threat, no, not as a threat but as a strong enemy that I must overcome, and it made my blood boil, my sole focus staying on the battle,"

"I don't know what happened, but I lost consciousness when I was close to dying, and when I woke up, I was surrounded by hundreds of dead creatures and Six Beast Kings, who killed me before I could understand what happened," Andrei said, describing the lackluster ending.

'Well, this is surely not normal,' Alex thought, instantly connecting the dots and recognizing this strange incident to be related to Andrei Beast King's legacy.

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(Evangeline POV)

"BEHAHAHAHAHA"

"Is this all that your fancy magic can do," Andrei roared, his figure a blur, his laughter echoing through the surroundings.

'He is not an ordinary high-Rank legacy holder, not by a long shot,' Evangeline thought as he saw the bloodied figure of Andrei coming at her with the ferocity and speed that only grew by the moment.

'I do not want to be on his bad side, but this muscle head leaves me with no other choice,' Evangeline thought as she raised her hand, manifesting orbs of pulsing silver that released chains of energy, catching Andrei in their luminous embrace.

"If you do not give me his location, then your companion will," Evangeline said, her calm voice accompanied by the noise of breaking chains.

"You are not going anywhere," Andrei roared, his mandibles closed shut, his eyes glowing with ferocious intensity as he forcefully broke the chains, freeing himself instantly.

But he was a bit too late, as tens of spheres radiating in pulsing red launched jets of radiating flames on Andrei, sending his figure crashing facefirst into the ground.

The intensity of the flames was such that it melted the ground to a running lava, tore through the chitinous armor protecting Andrei, and tore through his flesh like a hot knife through butter.

'Am I going to die just like that? Not even landing a solid hit,'

'NO, NO, NO,' Andrei thought, as he pushed his hand and feet into the flowing lava, finding solid ground and pushing his figure up, trying to forcefully stand under the bombardment of jets of incinerating flames.

"You are something else," Evangeline thought, a surprise cloaked with respect appearing in her eyes.

She watched Andrei's body rapidly transform back into a human, his figure drowning in deep burns, gashes, and blood that was incinerated, leaving behind dark marks.

"AARRRRAARARAARR"

Evangeline was about to aim the beams of energy at Andrei's head to end the battle but heard the guttural roar, which was followed by a beastly roar so high pitched that it made instinctively reach for ears to cover them.

"GGGRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRRRAAA"

Andrei's figure rose back to his feet, his eyes now void of their usual luster, his arms dangling limply by his sides, and his mouth closing after the beastly roar, and if it was not for the health that Evangeline could see, she would believe he was dead.

'What a Monster,' Evangeline thought, her heart racing as she felt fear for some reason, which annoyed her yet also made her recognize the resilience of her opponent, who, even in defeat, stood in defiance.

Evangeline raised her hand once more, manifesting two obes of repeating fire, yet before she could release the beams of energy, she heard a beastly roar from the sky, so high pitched it shocked her once more, and before she could look above for the culprit a white phantom moved passed her vision.

'Just a weak Beast.....' Evangeline thought, looking at the ethereal cloud swan standing before Andrei with her wings spread wide, yet her thoughts were left disrupted once more by a cascade of ten ferocious roars reverberating through the surroundings.

Evangeline had thought it was a companion beast who came to protect her master, yet the roars of tens of beasts that only grow in number and ferocity by the moment made her think otherwise.

'What is going on,' Evangeline thought, realizing that Andrei was responsible for this sudden shift.

Evangeline's next thought was to kill Andrei to neutralize the threat, yet she controlled her instincts, curious to see the end of it.

It didn't take long before the sky shook with the roars, and beasts ranging from Third to Sixth Rank began appearing like their life depended on it, surrounding Andrei in a protective shell.

While many threw themselves at the threat, not caring for their life or strength, Evangeline didn't hesitate to use her star magic to butcher any creature daring to approach her as she observed the strange event with awe and bubbling curiosity.

Evangeline did see the creatures as a threat, as she had enough mana to keep going at full pace for a few minutes, so she observed the creatures with focus, easily picking the strange emotions evident in their eyes that she had seen a few times among beasts that were protecting their kin.

Evangeline was compelled out of the chain of thoughts with the arrival of the first Beast King, and as much as she prided herself in being capable of handling such a creature, she understood better to go all out in a losing battle, and her thinking only increased stronger with the appearance of the second Beast King.