According to many philosophers, life could be a chess game, and this board was in a peculiar situation.
Two kings: a black king and a white king. The white king attacked first, following the rules, and almost single-handedly handled all the black king's defenses.
But there was one move neither king expected. Anyone who's ever played chess knows a king can't move into a spot where it can be killed. For that reason, this match would end only when the first one starved…
But a black pawn, ignored by both kings, advanced silently, slowly but surely, toward the enemy side—and finally reached the other side, and the missing piece for Checkmate was born.
—Need a hand, kid? —said a guy around 20, long blonde hair, blue eyes, holding a pink umbrella—. I can help if you want.
—Yes, mister stranger —Anyael replied with a chuckle, dodging one of the strange tree's branches, thinking: "Finally, something good comes out of playing Dark Souls; I've got almost all its patterns down. Sure, it's a living being, not an NPC, so it can change, but it's not that smart."
The tree paused its attacks for a few seconds; looks like it also needed to recover energy.
—Well, looks like this Mimic is resting, so I'll introduce myself: I'm Dio Argent, nice to meet you —Dio extended his hand to Any.
—My name's Anyael Revenant, nice to meet you, Dio —Any responded; but before they could shake hands, flying leaves interrupted—. I've got a plan, Anyael.
The plan was simple: Anyael would distract the Mimic, and Dio would exploit its weakness.
—And what's its weakness?
—Well, Any, its weakness is the ground. Just pull its roots out of the soil, and it won't get nutrients to regenerate. Fire skills could also work, but I guess you don't have any.
—Bingo. My Bondage has nothing to do with fire. But what about you, what's your power?
—It's complicated; now we gotta focus on the fight.
Back in the fight, round two begins. Any closes distance quickly with the Mimic and tries to strike, but melee combat isn't very effective, and he gets a cut in the stomach from the Mimic's hyper-sharp leaves.
This was the distraction Dio needed—and Dio knew it. At this point, the Mimic was 100% focused on Any, attacking with its roots from a distance…
Dio approached from behind to try to uproot it, but the tree noticed and, while it couldn't defend with its branches, it did with its leaves.
At that moment, Dio opened his left hand, and a white card materialized: a 3 of Hearts. He threw it forward, and the card expanded in size, shielding him from the cutting leaves.
He used the opportunity to shout a word:
—Monsters!
After shouting, four velociraptors materialized behind him, starting to harass the Mimic, forcing it to focus its leaves on trying to kill them.
Any, noticing this, started making as much noise as possible, thinking: "That thing is like a bear; we just gotta annoy it."
Bad idea. By focusing so much on his thoughts, he got pierced by one of the roots, and with no time to adapt, was impaled three more times by the Mimic's roots.
—"So this is how I'm gonna die, eh? What a fucking shitty way to go!" —he thought before hearing a female voice in his head.
༻Conditions met, Plague of the Ascended Monarch activated༺
In that instant, a brutal amount of Ego erupted from Anyael's body, and the monarch's crown materialized on his head.
Taking advantage of everything happening, Dio shouted Scary, transforming into a human/dinosaur hybrid, using all his strength and enhancing his muscles with Ego, sending the Mimic flying.
Anyael's body adapted to the damage in just seconds and regenerated it. His pure instinct transformed his Ego into electricity, overcharging his muscles and nervous system for a burst of speed.
In microseconds, he cut through the middle of the Mimic in midair. His pure instinct pushed his capabilities to the limit: using part of his Ego, he concentrated it in the soles of his feet, creating a burst that propelled him toward the Mimic, destroying its upper half, and after accomplishing that, he did the same with the lower half, killing it in the process.
After killing it, he collapsed unconscious—not only because he had spent 96% of his Ego on those maneuvers, but also due to the effect of his ability…