Just as Shade finished his purchases, he sent an order to all the troops.
[Order by Commander Shade – "Stall! Survive at all costs! Protect your brothers and sisters who return to life! If you die, retreat to safety, and survive for as long as possible."]
While the players were still reading the content of the message, the battle began.
[PVP Event: Dark Elf Kingdom vs New World Kingdom]
[Category: Tier 2 War]
[Reward: United Kingdom Territory Ownership]
[Content: Final Battle]
Shade immediately activated a skill to shield his troops, but before the skill could take effect, it was canceled. A gigantic hammer appeared out of nowhere, slammed down on him, and sent him flying into the stands.
Strangely, he felt no pain, and no injury was visible on his body...
A wave of notifications appeared before his eyes, distracting him from the bizarre event and offering an explanation of what had just happened.
[Applying Effects]
[Enemy Faction uses Suppression. Your level decreases by one!]
...
[Enemy Faction uses Mana Waste. Mana consumption is tripled!]
The list was much longer than during the previous war, and at the very end, he saw an effect that directly concerned him.
[Enemy Faction uses [Ban Hammer] on you. You are expelled from the battlefield for a duration of 30 seconds!]
Feeling his body forcibly transported outside the arena, he sighed. Appearing in the stands, he could only watch helplessly as the first moments of the conflict unfolded.
The battle exploded instantly. The enemy seemed determined to wipe out as many opponents as possible during his absence.
The Dark Elves were under such powerful buffs that the gap between the two factions only widened further.
'Their commander is focusing on silencing our best players on a loop, and the rest of their generals are slaughtering our forces...'
Seeing hundreds of players fall in the first seconds of the conflict, Shade felt a surge of helplessness so intense it caused a sharp pain in his chest. A feeling that reminded him of darker days.
'The day my friends died one after another at the hands of Rachel's allies.'
'The days I was forced to watch allied troops massacre prisoners of war in the Tower...'
'The day Norj and Abott went after Salim and Kara...'
'It's always the same feeling. The same weakness. But there's also the feeling of being a puppet, entertaining the crowd...'
Turning his gaze toward the spectators, he thought, 'And always that damn feeling of being watched.'
After a few seconds, he pulled himself back together and refocused on the battle. Although the humans were generally weaker than the Dark Elves, the enemy commander couldn't silence all the elites.
He carefully observed the players under the effects of [Death Denial]. Most of the revived human players had retreated and were being protected by the others. However, he watched helplessly as some were picked off by the enemy.
After just a few seconds, several thousands players had already died at least once...
After about ten seconds, more than ten thousand had perished once...
Shade held his head, feeling something rising inside him, a mixture of regret and fear.
Regret for not having asked Sora for more help.
'We're still too arrogant... Who said one person would be enough to protect everyone? Who said the enemy wouldn't have cards to counter our overwhelming strength... If only we had five people on each front... No! Even two or three...'
The fear he felt came from another purpose of his mission.
'Absolute freedom... That's what the Supreme Quest promised. Maybe it's another illusion, or a lie, but it's the most important quest Sora has ever had. I don't want to be the reason for his failure. I've caused enough trouble these past few days.'
When the first humans fell permanently in battle, Shade bit his lower lip.
After the hundredth victim, his body vibrated so violently that the air around him trembled, and the seats of the coliseum began to crack.
As the battle continued and the humans were slaughtered, the area around Shade was being vaporized by his growing destructive aura. An aura charged with shadows and darkness, feeding on his energy to destroy and devour everything around him.
"You're starting to worry the VIPs, young man... If you don't calm down, you'll end up losing everything."
Lost in thought, Shade reined in his elements and eventually turned his head when a presence appeared beside him.
Recognizing the stranger's appearance, Shade momentarily forgot about the ongoing war.
"It's you..."
The individual was seated next to him, on a chair that had just reappeared. His body was hidden under a black cloak, and his silhouette was exactly the same as in Shade's and Sora's memories.
"You can call me Prestige if you need a way to address me."
Shade remembered all the theories that Sora and his brothers had concocted to understand the identity of the mysterious figure before him, but he wasn't in the mood to question him.
The individual continued, "What you've done with my power... it's impressive. I don't know by what miracle you've achieved such a result in so little time, but you're on the right path."
Shade couldn't help but lift his head. "You're not one of those countless voyeurs who spy on us day and night?"
Prestige shook his head, "I'm not one of them. I'm unaware of what you did after that day. I only feel when you use my power..." He then let out a sound that Shade interpreted as a laugh. "You called them voyeurs? That's a pretty accurate term. But saying it out loud? You're really not afraid of anything!"
Shade smiled and shook his head. "Whether I think it or say it, what difference does it make? Those guys are like gods... They see and hear everything. We're just pawns in their game."
He lowered his head, deep in thought.
Prestige stopped laughing and looked at him. "You're wrong. They're not infallible. They can't even see me, for example. And they can't hear you talking to me either. I don't know what you've done since our last meeting, but I can sense you're using a lot more of my power. You're developing in the right direction."
Shade, who still couldn't perceive the man's appearance under the cloak, struggled to understand his intentions. "Why are you appearing today? You weren't there for thousands of resets..."
Prestige replied, "You were about to get punished... And since you're the product of [Alter Ego], a part of my power lies dormant in you, so I felt it. Believe me, the sanctions for [Alter Egos] are far worse than for regular players. I intervened to stop you before you ignored yet another warning."
Shade looked up, "Why did you help me? I have a thousand brothers... And I'm not even the original. What do you want from me? What do you want from Sora?"
Prestige smiled, but didn't answer. Instead, he pointed toward the arena. "Looks like it's your turn to move."
Shade followed the direction indicated by the man. A handful of human players had managed not to die even once. Thirty thousand other soldiers were in critical condition, having used [Death Denial] to get a second chance to survive the battle with only thirty percent of their vitality.
Shade felt a pang in his heart seeing these people in such a sorry state. And the pain was even worse when he realized that the others—nearly twenty thousand men and women—had already perished twice.
He turned his attention to the counter and saw it was almost time for him to rejoin the battle.
[The effect of [Ban Hammer] ends in 1.1265 seconds]
Just as he was about to thank the strange individual for pulling him out of his rage, he noticed that the figure had already disappeared.
Shade then watched as the countdown slowly approached zero.
After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the barrier separating him from the arena open slightly, just enough space for one person.
Without a moment's hesitation, he disappeared from his spot and reappeared in the middle of the battlefield.
Before his enemies could react, he materialized a wall of darkness between the two armies. Although the two factions occupied different parts of the arena, thousands of dark elves were still trapped on the human side.
Shade showed no mercy.
A scene of horror unfolded before the eyes of the human players. The enemies who had been slaughtering and tormenting them froze simultaneously.
Their shadows stopped obediently following them and came to life, sometimes rising from the ground to strangle them until death claimed them.
Once eliminated, these dark elves disappeared into a cloud of darkness...
Shade ignored his allies' reactions and moved the entirety of the army into his shadow dimension.
Determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, he locked onto a woman among the enemy troops.
[Akra - Level 180]
'She's the colonel who had infiltrated my hidden dimension last time...'
He extended his hand toward her, and as if she lost control of her body, she flew at breakneck speed until she appeared before Shade.
He grabbed her by the throat, intending to drain every ounce of life from the young woman through his darkness.
Akra spoke words he had never heard from a dark elf before, "Stop! Spare me!"
He looked at her. "Oh? But am I allowed to spare you? Neither your faction nor mine bought a [White Flag]. Did you forget?"
With despair and helplessness written across her face, she said, "Damn it, this is so unfair... I'm going to report you to the admins. A player of your level participating in a Tier 2 war? That's cheating!!"
Shade raised a finger and gestured around them. "Unfair? You think we wanted this shitty situation?"
"Was it fair to launch an ambush against all of humanity as soon as the update dropped?"
"Don't be a hypocrite... We're at war. And as long as my heart beats, I will protect my people."
Sensing Akra's gaze shift from fear to hatred, he sighed.
She spoke one last time, "You're one of those madmen who thinks he's a hero against weaker enemies? And I'm the one you call a hypocrite? You'll see what our leaders will do to you. They'll tear your people and you to shreds."
Tired of the young elf's rambling, he clenched his fist, and her body dissipated into shadow and darkness.
All the energy he had consumed to eliminate the enemy colonel was restored to him in the form of elements. Tempted to also steal a portion of her soul power, he hesitated and ultimately decided against it.
Turning toward the enemy commander standing about ten meters away, he spoke again, "You still haven't given up? Your spell can't do anything to me... You can't silence someone infinitely stronger than you."
Ignoring the commander who was about to speak, Shade condensed all his power and energy between his hands. Darkness in one hand, and shadows in the other.