Alex accepted her fate when she caught a glimpse of his smile. She was perplexed with his innocent smile that made her stop in her tracks; it was as if he bore no ill intent against her. 

In the end, she wasn’t able to stop him. A dark flame rose in his palm that engulfed his crushed heart. Then there, an earth-shaking explosion erupted. The pillar of flames grew, devouring him and her in its path.

However, she did not feel the pain she expected to experience. Rather the flames around her felt warm and pleasant. It was as if the flames started to become a part of her. 

Unbeknownst to her, an ember of a white flame inside her that has dwindled in the past years suddenly reignited! 

The dark flames drew in close to the ember of white flame as if being summoned. Or rather, the white flame sucked in the dark flames with great fervor as if it finally found the fuel it needed. 

The dark flames appeared to resist the white flame but only for a short amount of time. The two flames spiraled around her heart before shrinking to be absorbed in it. The introduction of the dark flames reinvigorates the ember of the white flame. Then a heart-pounding throb ran through her body as if the white flame in her heart wanted more. 

With renewed vigor, her heart sensed that there are more fuel outside her body. Soon enough, a whirlpool of flames was created. And at the center of it all was Alex. 

The whirlpool of flames glowed brilliantly with light. Alex, who was in the middle of it all, let out a slight grunt as she felt excruciating pain. She was taken aback when the warm feeling she felt earlier changed in just a matter of seconds. Now her entire body felt as if it was being burned alive. 

Alex tried to endure the pain as she watched the dark flames enter every pore in her body. She wanted to scream, but somehow the howls of pain died in her throat. 

The pain that was stabbing at Alex’s heart was almost enough to make her faint. The pain is so unbearable that she forgot that pain reduction in the game exists. 

However, Alex, whose health point was already below 10% when she confronted the goblin shaman, did not last a minute. Her agony in this hellfire did not last long before her vision darkened. She raised her head to the sky one last time before she lost consciousness to etch the beings that appeared in the sky in her heart.

Then the chaotic battlefield she was in fell silent as though she was the only person left in the world. Then Lumiere’s soft voice echoed in her mind as if to comfort her that she was beside her. 

[You Died]

[Transporting Player Alexandria’s Soul to Void Realm for Body’s Reconstruction]

…

After Alex died, the pillars of flames continued to grow stronger, devouring everything in its path. And as if she triggered a chain reaction in Alex’s burnt corpse, a dark flame ignited in her heart and floated out of her body. Then there, an earth-shaking explosion erupted once more in a similar way that the goblin shaman’s heart exploded.

Ezekiel, who ran as far as he could, suddenly heard a second explosion. He was lucky to escape the first explosion even though he ran late. But this time, he wasn’t as lucky as he thought he was. 

“F*ck!!” He tried to look back only to realize that the flames were already right in front of his face. 

In just a matter of seconds, he was engulfed by the dark flames. His clothes burned to ashes, and his skin burned. The pressure from the explosion was so powerful that he felt like his body was being crushed each second. The explosion sent his body flying off the ground. However, unlike Alex, the pain he is experiencing is still bearable, thanks to the pain reduction of the game. 

And since Ezekiel also has very low health, to begin with. He only lasted a few seconds longer than Alex before he, too, perished.

Then he realized that they lost the moment he heard his A.I.’s voice. 

[You Died]

[Transporting Player Ezekiel’s Soul to Void Realm for Body’s Reconstruction]

Then the chain reaction continued; his corpse suffered the same fate as Alex’s corpse. In Ezekiel’s burnt corpse, a dark flame ignited in his heart and floated out of his body. Then there, the third earth-shaking explosion erupted once more. While the explosion swept through the battlefield. 

The corpses of the goblins they killed caught in the explosion also experienced the same fate. A dark flame ignited in the hearts of the goblin’s corpses and floated out of their body. 

And each second passed a floating dark flame exploded. But even though the explosion is not as powerful as Alex or Ezekiel’s explosion. The sheer number of goblin corpses alone made up for the explosion’s power. 

Each time a goblin’s corpse explodes, the corpse beside it follows suit. Until the explosion reached the mad goblins charging at the village. Impervious to the things around them, the berserk goblin continued to charge ahead. Then the first casualty of a berserk goblin caught in the explosion died. The berserk goblin’s corpse had the same fate as those caught in the explosion. 

Then each berserk goblin that died from the explosion only added to its power. Then as if the domino effect had just started, the explosion continued to move forward without signs of stopping. With this, all the goblins died spectacularly. 

After killing every last bit of goblins and players, the battlefield turned to a still. And those beings in the sky who watched this spectacle slowly retreated to the crack in space behind them. The beings appeared and disappeared in a flash as if they did not appear in there to begin with. 

A woman with long ears that of an elf and golden blonde hair wearing a beautiful champagne colored sleeveless dress with a delicately embroidered pattern gives the dress an exquisitely gorgeous look. Before stepping on her portal, the woman gave a final look at the destroyed battlefield. She let out a sigh with a hint of sadness.. “War has started.”