Trapped in a Game Pt. 05

Author's Note: This is part 5 of my 'Trapped in a Game' series. It's not a self-contained story so you'll be pretty lost if you don't read from part 1. A word of caution; this story up until now has been posted in the incest/taboo category as despite being a fantasy story, the primary love interest of the main character is his little sister. I don't think this overwhelms the narrative, so from now on I will be posting the sections which don't feature intimacy between these two characters, in the fantasy category. Hope you enjoy, and as always, feel free to leave your comments below. :)

Special thanks to CNS for some beta feedback, and Skye4Life for editing this. Any errors that remain are my own.

***

"Heard you were on the West Europe server, Tsun," Serra called, eyeing the man with suspicion, and he brushed his hair back arrogantly as he studied her from far above.

"Keeping tabs on me, are we?"

"It's a bit of a necessity when you're being stalked and all that."

The man, Tsun, as Serra called him, smirked, then without warning he suddenly leapt from the staggering height and landed with a thunderous boom, cracking the stone about him.

A cloud of dust momentarily shrouded him, and as the dust cleared, he stood up and drew the great sword from his back and planted it into the firm stone floor.

"Ahh," he groaned, stretching his limbs achingly as if only just awakening from a long slumber.

He wore heavy plate armour that was a brilliant white, embroidered with the blood red image of a butterfly trapped wickedly in a spider's web.

"Oh my dear, sweet Serra. How long has it been?" he asked, leaning back against his great sword casually and removing one of his gauntlets.

His movements were relaxed and smooth despite the almost palpable tension in the air.

"What are you doing here, Tsun?" Serra asked, sighing as she placed her hammer down on the floor in front of her.

There was a devious smile of his face, and his gaze never shifted from Serra's direction.

"Well... when I heard that a little old vampire lair was giving you trouble, I figured I'd pop over and give you a hand."

She laughed bitterly at the remark.

"How did you get on this server?"

"Trade secret, dove. Though I'm sure you'll hear about soon enough. In any case, enough about the 'hows' and 'whys.' I'm here now, and that's what matters most, no?"

She let out a tired sigh, before retrieving her hammer and weighing it in her hands.

"Well... facing me in a death game. Isn't this your dream come true," she noted, her tone becoming playful as she put a hand on her hip in that typically girlish way before continuing provatively, "Your tiny little cock must be trying it's hardest to stand up straight right now, huh?"

The man laughed as he leaned off of his sword.

"As mouthy as ever I see. Except... from what I remember, when you left us you seemed to have so very little to say, didn't you?"

Serra continued to smile playfully, but I noted that her hands seemed to tighten about the handle of her hammer, and even as she continued to put up a show of indifference, I could see subtle signs of worry in her movements.

Who was this man, and why was he getting to her so easily?

It was such an uncharacteristic reaction that I immediately made to move closer to her side, but Kelly's hands suddenly reached out, stopping me.

I shot her a questioning glance but she merely shook her head in response.

"Still holding onto that, huh?" Serra asked, putting a hand on her hip as she continued, "Well... I guess I've put this off for long enough anyway, huh. So how do you want to settle this? One on one or-?"

A loud, wicked laugh suddenly echoed across the room as Tsun regarded Serra with great amusement.

"Oh, my poor darling Serra. Did you really think I came all this way just to kill you?" he asked, and she bared her teeth for just a second as he continued playfully: "No, no, no, my love. This won't end quite so pleasantly."

Tsun snapped his fingers, and figures shrouded in black robes immediately began to emerge from the walls about us.

The attack was sudden and havoc ensued as the scouts positioned about the hall were suddenly exposed to close range attackers, and having prepared ranged weapons for the engagement, they were quickly overwhelmed.

Kelly quickly fired some waves of fire across the room to help the scouts, and I ducked out of the way of a few arrows, drawing my rapier just as a robed figure emerged from the ground between us.

He drew a longsword and swung at Kelly, but I was quickly on him, and I deflected the blow from the side before turning on him and quickly jabbing at him with my rapier.

My attacks were quick, and just as I slipped past his defences stabbing at his shoulder, a searing burst of flame swept past me.

He leapt away and dodged the initial burst, but the wave burned its way across the ground and he yelped in pain as it tore across his chest.

"Heat metal!" Serra chanted, and I glanced over as Tsun's armour momentarily glowed red with heat, but he cackled gleefully as the spell appeared to have no effect.

"Seriously, Serra?" he asked, "Is that how lowly you think of me?"

"Gotta cover my bases," she countered, smirking as she moved in and swung her hammer at him.

"Back up the scouts with Diego and Dana," I muttered, but as I turned to join Serra's side, Kelly pulled me back.

"No. We need you here," Kelly countered, as she waved her hand, aiming a burst of fire at another figure that was shooting arrows at us from the far wall.

"Dana's built her character as a full caster, and Diego has no battle experience. Serra can handle herself," she continued.

A few more arrows fired at us, and as we took evasive action, I did a quick analysis of the situation.

The sentries were being pinned back, and David, Pete and Karn were desperately trying to control the enemy's ranged attackers leaving our own spell casters quite vulnerable.

From a strictly tactical perspective, Kelly was right.

Covering our spell casters was a given.

But was that really the right decision right now?

With me at Serra's side, we should be able to take down Tsun pretty quickly, and given that he seemed to be the leader of the enemy party, wouldn't that be the best approach?

I cast one more worried glance at Serra as she engaged with Tsun, when Kelly shoved me out of the way of an arrow.

"Quit sleeping," she scolded me, and I gulped before responding with a quick nod.

"Okay. Let's do this," I called, and as Kelly nodded back a little smile appeared on her lips for the first time it seemed since I came back from my misadventure with Dana.

"Cover me for a sec," she muttered, and I swung my rapier at a couple incoming arrows as she began to rapidly chant a series of incantations.

I kept a lookout for incoming attacks, but out of the corner of my eye I watched with interest as Kelly excavated a giant stone ball from the floor about us and quickly liquefied the core into molten materiel.

"Nightmare!" I chanted, and a little spark to our left went out just as one of the enemy wizards tried to focus a fireball blast around us.

I deflected another incoming arrow, but the Kelly had begun to move the giant stone ball in a circle about us, and as it picked up speed it began to deflect the incoming attacks on its own.

She shot me a quick glance and I quickly took the hint, leaping to her side and placing a hand on her hip.

"Synergy," I chanted, and as my magic began to flow into her, the stone sphere began to crackle, molten rock now dripping from its hyper-heated core.

Kelly raised her hands and I gasped as she suddenly floated off of the ground, her hair turning red and a fiery aura momentarily outlining her form.

She shot me one more look before swinging her hands and launching the rock in the direction of a group of robed fighters who were locked in combat with Mackenzie and David.

Mackenzie rolled away and David crouched down behind his shield just as the rock exploded into the floor beside them, and I watched with fascination as the impact knocked several enemy players off of their feet, showering some of them with burning hot debris that left them writhing in agony.

"Christ. How many spells did you just chain?" I asked, unable to hide how impressed I was.

"Four," she replied, a little hint of blush on her cheeks.

I studied her with admiration, as even using a single spell while maintaining concentration took me weeks of practice to perfect.

I knew that sorcerers were easily able to cast several spells in succession with their flexible casting ability, but I'd never seen anyone chain that many high level spells without complete loss of concentration, and Kelly hardly seemed affected by the effort.

It put out a hell of a lot of damage and quick, but it quickly drew a lot of enemy glances in our direction and I pulled Kelly with me out of the way as a spear came hurtling in our direction.

Two cloaked figures with swords drawn quickly followed in the wake of the ranged attack, and they were on us before I could draw them far enough away from Kelly.

"Fire shield," she chanted continuously, raising little waves of flame to shield us from several attacks.

As Kelly covered me, it was easy enough for me to jab at them with my rapier, but two more figures swept in to join them making the situation a bit more difficult.

As I parried a blow and Kelly's shield deflected another incoming spear, we took a step back.

This was no good.

We were pretty much pinned down.

Kelly could shield me well enough allowing me to counter attack, but as a non-martial class my damage output was scarcely enough to keep our attackers at bay.

My dexterity stat was high enough that it would be easy for me to dodge on my own, but that would leave Kelly vulnerable and she would never have enough room to get enough of her high damage spells off anyway.

Unless...

"I have an idea," I muttered, and Kelly nodded absently as she focused on shielding us.

"Puppet master," I whispered, and Kelly gasped, eyeing me briefly with uncertainty before allowing my spell to take effect on her.

It was a spell that allowed me to control the actions of another creature, which while in theory seemed to be an incredibly useful ability, the spell often failed to work on any creature that was of a high enough calibre to really be useful anyway, and the chances of it succeeding on a fellow player were astronomical to say the least; unless, of course, the player consented to its use as Kelly had just done.

As the spell took effect, however, I concentrated on control of just her legs, and a smile crossed her lips as she quickly understood my intent.

I turned her body to face me then took a step towards her, placing my feet a measured distance from her own, and as the first figure descended on us, a sword drawn, I began to move us both, our steps timed in a dance like rhythm, as together, we leapt clear.

He followed up the attack with another swing, but this time, I deflected the blow just as I turned Kelly towards him.

"Shocking grasp!" she chanted, and a crackling charge appeared in her palms as she reached out, and the man cried out as her hand made contact with his armour, sending a painful jolt of electricity coursing through his body.

Two of his accomplices quickly followed in, wielding swords as well, and I danced around them with Kelly under my control as she began to conjure up large, terrible waves of flame and fire them with abandon in scintillating waves.

One of the players charged in, but as I easily deflected his reckless swing, a wave of flame tore across his chest and he fell to the ground crying out in agony.

The second of the two took a cautious step back and I danced with Kelly out of the way of several daggers that were being thrown by the other cloaked figure nearby.

She fired a few waves of fire in retaliation and one of the waves connected, taking him down just as the second player was upon us lunging back into the fray.

He jabbed at me with a rapier of his own, but Kelly deflected the blow with a flame shield, and I lunged in with her at my side.

Between my jabs, Kelly fired waves of flame at him and as we pressed him back he quickly lost his footing, and as I stabbed at his his defenceless form several times, he let out a pained cry before falling to the ground, writhing in agony, and Kelly shot me a quick smile.

"We make quite the team," she noted, and I nodded in agreement, but the exchange was cut short as an overwhelming moment of panic gripped me.

"Watch out!" I called, and I desperately pulled Kelly with me as I leaned backwards, a massive sword just narrowly missing Kelly's head, and as I fell down onto my back I quickly rolled with Kelly in my arms as the sword came crashing down twice, trying to slice us, and again just as I struggled to my feet.

This feeling!

This overwhelming feeling of being pressed back into a corner, trapped and completely at mercy.

It reminded me of the day I first faced Serra in combat, and I panted as our assailant let up the onslaught, my eyes finally able to properly take in the situation.

Tsun.

That was what Serra called him.

For someone using a heavy, two handed weapon, his attacks were lightning quick, and he was now studying us with that smug, arrogant smile that hadn't seemed to let up even once since he first appeared.

"You're becoming a nuisance," he called, "if I didn't know better I'd think you were-"

He never got to finish the sentence as he suddenly brought his sword up to guard his head from the left, and a brilliant flash accompanied the loud '*clang!' of metal colliding with metal.

Tsun went down on one knee, and a kind of yellow static coursed through his right hand, which shook slightly as he absorbed the magic infused force of Serra's blow.

"You know. If you ignore me like that, I might get jealous," Serra muttered coldly.

"Well aren't you trying just a little too hard?" Tsun responded, chuckling as he pushed her hammer off, but as he got to his feet, I studied Serra with concern.

She had put as much magic as she could have into her smite when she struck that blow, and if it had landed, I can't think of a single person that would still be standing, but even as Tsun seemed shaken in the aftermath of the strike, he had blocked it successfully and mitigated any of the damage that it might have caused. It was the kind of uncalculated waste of magic that was completely uncharacteristic of Serra's approach.

"Hmm," Tsun added thoughtfully, as he glanced between me and Serra.

His eyes seemed to linger on me for a second, and a subtle smirk appeared on his face as Serra instinctively tightened her grip on her hammer.

"Well, as much as I'd love to stay and keep you company, I do have other plans," Tsun added, turning his attention back to her as he continued, "But don't worry, dove. I've arranged a 'play-date' for you."

"Blitz!" he called out. "Are you going to just stand there and watch all day?"

As Tsun raised his hand, I followed his gaze up to the opening from which he'd entered, and standing there was a large hulking man, a massive battle axe in his grasp.

"You know I don't fight blind, Tsun," the man called, "I was hoping you'd have gotten her to show me something of her style by now. But I guess it doesn't matter, anyway. Priests are worthless against berserkers."

He leapt from the height, going down onto one knee and rolling forward as he landed, though softly and a lot less glamorously than his accomplice had, and Serra clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Serra eyed him warily while keeping her hammer aimed at Tsun.

"Aspect of the beast; bearskin!" the man shouted, and his muscles seemed to ripple and bulge as he let out a loud roar and smashed his hammer into the floor, cracking the solid stone wickedly.

He leapt at Serra without another word, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance again as she leapt out of the way and began to engage the new foe.

"Now then, little unknowns. Where were we?" Tsun asked, and I tightened my hold on Kelly as I braced for the fight.

This man, Tsun, was clearly an S-rank player, but I had Kelly by my side.

I took a deep breath, and as Kelly gave a subtle nod, I released her and leapt forward.

"Earth tremor!" she chanted, placing her hands to the floor, but even as the earth upheaved in waves, Tsun merely crouched down and remained rooted to the spot.

Didn't he plan on dodging?

Arrogant, I thought, but I've got you now!

I landed on the peak of one of the waves and propelled myself forward, using the momentum from the wave to add a significant boost of force to my strike, but as I lunged into him with my rapier he took one step forward and deflected my piercing strike with his sword.

How the hell could he deflect my attack so easily?

But he wasn't done there.

As he redirected my blow away from his body, he reached out with his hand grasped me by the shoulder, cackling gleefully as he hoisted me off the ground, then smashed me painfully into the hard stone floor.

I felt the wind knocked out of me, but I had to get free of his grip, so I twisted and jabbed my rapier at his arm, and he let go, but as I rolled out of the way, expecting him to bring his great sword down onto me, he instead jabbed at me with the butt of the hilt, and as the blunt steel collided painfully with my ribs, I fell to the ground, reeling with pain.

Kelly wasted no time in backing me up, but he easily evaded her spells and advanced on her.

"Shit," I cursed, trying to shake off the pain as I stumbled to my feet.

Though my hit points were fine, the pain from taking damage was an incredible barrier in itself to overcome.

But I had to do something!

In close range and against an opponent of his calibre?

Kelly would be helpless.

Tsun was within striking range now, but as he prepared to swing at her, her eyes glowed and a huge wave of fire erupted from her.

He braced himself behind his sword as the massive wave of heat washed over him, but without a shield, it afforded him little protection and he grimaced as the damage took effect.

It kept him at bay for now, but I knew the skill was a one use thing and she would be completely helpless now without it.

I needed to back her up!

"Shade!" I chanted, throwing the area around me under a dark blanket, but as I dashed at Tsun he seemed unamused.

"Daylight," he called, placing his hand around a pendant that hung around his neck, and a brilliant light erupted from him; peeling back the darkness that I hoped would give me an edge.

"Don't you two have anything other than cheap tricks?" Tsun asked in annoyance as he swung his sword at me, and I gulped nervously as I just narrowly evaded the blade.

Even with a heavy weapon, he was quick, and I was just barely evading his attacks.

But if I was careful, I could dodge his attacks, and Kelly could handle herself while supporting me with her own magical attacks.

This could work! I told myself.

But despite my vindication, Tsun seemed completely unfazed, and as he moved in to attack, I quickly found out why.

"Hunter's bane!" Tsun called, aiming his finger at me as he moved in, and as he swung his sword I leapt to my right and to my shock his blade veered straight into the path that leapt into.

I twisted in mid-air, just barely getting out of the way of a serious hit, and I panted as I landed shakily.

Hunter's bane was the paladin's equivalent of my own mark spell, which would make it much more difficult to evade his swings.

"Found a way to unlock the vengeance oath, huh," Serra called, as a pair of lightning shackles suddenly wrapped themselves around Tsun from behind, and he glared at her with hatred as he went down on one knee.