Time seemed to slow down, and Lotus closed her eyes.
She thought back to the time she had spent with Apophis, and how the fate of her guild would be decided in this crucial moment.
Lotus pushed all fear of failure out of her head, any feeling that could weaken her. This fight, without a doubt, would be one of the hardest battles since she started playing.
As the duel timer began counting down, both players prepared to fight.
Lotus activated a special item she'd crafted from Federation technology, a full suit of reinforced combat armor, fully robotized with a jetpack on the back.
On the other side, Mario, a Boxer, equipped black gloves glowing with a purple aura.
But at the split second the timer reached zero, Mario teleported to Lotus and threw a powerful punch to Lotus's face that sent her flying back more than a hundred meters!
Lotus crashed into a ruined building in Tyo, groaning with pain and surprise.
But that wasn't all! Mario reused her blink skill to reach the top of the building in a second, then activated a powerful strike skill that completely destroyed the building in a few seconds!
Fortunately, Lotus's battle armor was equipped with a primary shield that softened both attacks. This gave her time to activate an offensive skill called ~Big Bomber,~ which injected energy into pre-made bombs to amplify their explosion potential while making Lotus immune to their damage.
Lotus used this skill on a dozen bombs, creating a single huge one that blew away the wreckage of the building that was lying on top of her.
The shock wave of this explosion slammed into Mario, injuring her and propelling her backwards!
But Lotus knew that she'd only gained limited time. Half her HP was already gone, and she couldn't take too many more hits to the face! That first attack had been a critical hit, and so dealt more damage than usual, but Mario was just too powerful for Lotus to survive for long!
Lotus took advantage of the short respite to activate her jetpack, flying ten meters off the ground.
But that didn't stop Mario at all! She flew up to Lotus's location and threw a second punch.
Fortunately, this time Lotus managed to dodge it, but the punch was so powerful that it caused a vacuum in the air which unbalanced Lotus.
Lotus realized that this punch was two or perhaps even three times the power of the one she'd received in the face!
If this punch had hit her, Lotus would have lost instantly!
She pulled herself together and activated a smoke bomb item. She then took the opportunity to flee, activating her jetpack at full power.
Mario, who was about to fall from the sky, was disoriented…
But after a few seconds of falling, she saw Lotus running away at high speed.
Mario teleported into melee range, then threw a lightning punch which pierced Lotus's jetpack!
The device exploded, sending both players flying.
Lotus crashed into one of the old city fountains, bleeding, and with her armor destroyed.
However, the explosion had also injured Mario significantly. In fact, the explosion had channeled along the path of her punch, causing Mario to receive the bulk of the explosion. Moreover, she'd spent all her energy due to the massive use of her teleportation and lightning punch combo.
Meanwhile, Lotus had enough energy to use the few light healing skills she'd learned and restabilize herself.
But it was clear that Mario had won the fight.
Lotus could hardly move and her healing was far too weak to allow her to keep fighting in a meaningful way.
As soon as Mario dragged herself to Lotus and dealt the final blow, the fight would officially end.
With great effort, Mario rose. It took tremendous effort, due to her injuries, but Mario put one foot after the other, moving slowly but surely towards her opponent.
But while she was only a few meters away, Mario's body became extremely heavy!
She collapsed to the ground, groaning as hundreds of chains made of Nanoparticle Steel, an extremely resistant metal, wrapped around Mario, imprisoning her completely!
Then the hundreds of people who had activated these chains emerged from their hiding places all around!
Mario, despite the situation and her usual serious face, burst out laughing. "You idiot! Couldn't bear to lose, huh? Did you forget what we agreed on? You're going to be permabanned for breaking the conditions of our duel! That means I automatically win!"
Lotus, bleeding, finally pulled herself back to her feet. "If you remember correctly, you proposed that our 'guild members' be restricted from intervening. As you'll notice, these are Federation soldiers, not Eclipse members." Mario stared in disbelief at the men who'd come out of hiding. Lotus was telling the truth! In theory, she was still respecting the rules of their duel!
How could a civilian possibly command Federation soldiers?! If only Mario had demanded that no 'allies' intervene! But how could she have seen this coming?
Panicked, Mario realized she was about to lose. She opened her mouth to scream for her guild members to come free her—
But it was too late for anything to happen. Lotus had approached and was holding an empowered bomb that glowed with tremendous power.
Mario seethed with rage. "Don't think your victory in Tyo will change anything! My guild may have to leave the city, but there are still thousands of elite Renovatio Imperii and Lord Of War players on the planet! You can't chase them all away! This planet belongs to the Coalition now!"
Lotus didn't respond.
She merely dropped her bomb on Mario, then another, until she'd exhausted her entire supply. As Lotus turned to leave, Mario spoke up again.
"And don't believe that your lover will have a merciful fate, either! Ceasar and Lucifer are about to arrive on Cronos I with hundreds of thousands of elite players! They'll humiliate him, slaughtering him over and over until he falls back to lvl 1! Your miserable guild will be disbanded and your star player will surely leave the game in humiliation soon after!"
But Lotus merely kept walking, paying no attention whatsoever. This was too much for Mario to take. "You bitch! Come back here!"
In response, Lotus detonated the bombs, killing Mario in an instant and leaving her corpse in an enormous crater behind.
