The serenity of the UNDS base devolved into a chaotic, bloody scene. Gunfire flared up from all directions. Yelling and shrieking echoed in the air. Blood splattered on almost any surface present. Aliens and humans were losing their lives every second.
Merlin_13 was quickly advancing on foot towards the area where his target was located. Suddenly, five aliens emerged out of the blue, surrounding him. His ambushers were ranked Calamity tier, just like him.
He stole a quick glance at his opposition. They all appeared very formidable. Electric arcs visibly coursed around their bodies, and they were all above 210 metres in height. The scene looked like five heavyweight boxers against a high school student.
Merlin_12 didn't plan to fight them fair and square because he may lose his life before he could achieve his aim of visiting the camp.
He forced his will into his sword's blade, eliciting an ominous change to the blade. Black_Riot's blade flickered in and out of existence; it constantly depixelated as if it was on the verge of collapsing before reverting to its original form.
The Calamity-tier ranked opposition who stood against Merlin_13 melted into crumbling stones. Instantaneously, the sky above Merlin_13 flickered in the same manner as his sword's blade. He ended his influence on his sword's blade and rolled to his right, dodging a bolt of lightning that was locked onto his previous position.
What he had just dodged was punishment from the game's system. The game system was ruthless in dealing with characters who cheat in the game. Merlin_13 had just exploited a glitch to deal with his opposition, and the system detected it. He was lucky to survive because the system hadn't locked on him in time.
Meanwhile, Rider was having the scariest and wildest moment of his life. He got surrounded by a group of Unds who all shot at him at the same time. Suddenly, he glitched out of existence, and the bullets meant for him took out his foes. He returned to reality to find the group all dead. Merlin_13 was responsible for this outcome.
Merlin_13 ran towards the dam. None of the aliens could stop his advance. Anything that came in his way was cut down with a legendary sword slash attack.
He stopped a few hundred metres from the foot of the dam. He resisted the urge to admire the size of the dam. He attacked the dam with a special attack, infinite sword light. Sword lights rain on the barrier from the sky, but the dam didn't budge.
Merlin_13 let out a wry smile. He was not disappointed that his attacks did not break the dam. His silver-blue eyes flickered, becoming translucent, and his vision deepened to see past the "ordinary". The environment changed; every object in his vision became exposed to him; he could see the blocks of code that made every object and concept around him.
A number of notification bars floated around Merlin_13, all of them notifying him that his attacks were erroneous. Previously, he couldn't see these notification bars. It was because of the change in his eyes that he could now see them.
The notifications confirmed Merlin_13's suspicion about the dam. The dam was a code and not a physical object. So physical attacks couldn't damage it.
"No problem." Merlin_13's expression became focused.
His sword flickered once more, and it influenced the river on the other side of the dam. The river surged, trying to overflow over the dam. But there seemed to be an invisible force that extended above the barrier, restraining the river from overflowing.
A dozen enemy fighter aircraft flew over to stop Merlin_13, but they melted into crumbling stones upon nearing a 100-metre distance from him.
"Let us live!" Merlin_13 yelled as he leapt towards the dam.
His sword still flickered, tethering between existence and nonexistence. He slashed down vertically, unleashing a powerful sword light that pierced the dam. Web-like cracks appeared all over the dam, but it still retained its integrity.
New notification bars floated above the dam. Error, code failure, cannot fix code malfunction. Merlin_13 unleashed more attacks on the dam.
Error: multiple malfunctions; cannot fix code malfunctions.
Error, total code failure. Error, total code failure.
The dam depixelated, fading out of existence. The river surged forth, drowning Merlin_13, who stood in its path. A very big lightning bolt crashed down on his position within the water. Merlin_13, the Pillar of Calamity tier swordmaster, was reduced to ashes.
An announcement appeared in the sky, and everyone within the Torn Indigo saw the notification: Player Merlin_13 has been punished with the ultimate punishment for cheating in the game.
Player Merlin_13 has been punished with the ultimate punishment for cheating in the game.
Player Merlin_13 has been punished with the ultimate punishment for cheating in the game.
The battle in the Unds camp momentarily stopped. The troopers were shocked that the "invincible" Calamity-tier character, Merlin_13, had died. This turn of events shook their confidence, and some of them began to flee. The battle, which was arguably a tie, had changed to be in favour of the Unds. Humanity's soldiers were hunted down and killed like prey.
Rider kept an eye on the dam. He had no doubt that Merlin_13 would destroy the dam. But he hoped that the Calamity-tier character was joking about not making it out alive. At the moment, his hope was crushed. Merlin_13 had perished.
Instantly, he remembered that he was supposed to throw Black_Riot into the currently liberated river.
'Where will I find the sword?' He wondered.
A casual glance to his left and he saw Black_Riot lying on the ground beside him. He questioned himself, asking if he was seeing things. The sword on the ground looked exactly like Black_Riot.
'How did it get here without me noticing?'
He gently reached for the sword and held it in one hand.
The instant Rider touched the hilt of the black sword, indescribable energy overwhelmed him. The energy had a corrosive effect on him; it felt worse than being mildly electrocuted.
He cursed and thought, 'What is this thing? No wonder no one apart from Merlin_13 could possess it. I must dispose this thing before it kills me.'
The path which the river flowed was some distance away from him. With his rifle in his left hand and Black_Riot on his right, he ran to the closest riverbank. The sword cast an invisibility effect on him; hence, the enemies didn't see him run through the battlefield.
Black_Riot also cast a force shield over him. Stray bullets didn't injure him; rather, they bounced off the force shield, leaving the explosive impact to scare the joy of life out of Rider.
Realisation dawned on him. He gazed at the sword with a grateful expression.
Rider got to the riverbank. He felt vertigo as he admired the enormity of the river. He cast the sword into the river. The instant the sword drowned within the river, the remaining will of Merlin_13 manifested as a ghost and nodded in satisfaction at Rider.
BANG! A shell exploded on the force field surrounding Rider. He fell like a madman, and his guts almost fell out through his mouth. He instinctively turned and fled.