On Earth, in the real world, a huge number of people were still watching replays of the one-sided "fight" between Apophis and the players led by Zelda.
Everyone was shocked! All the games media were commentating the fight as quickly as they could, but even Apophis's most fervent supporters in the media had no explanation for how he'd risen to such a level of power in so short a time.
He had humiliated one of the best PvP teams in the SuperGuild Hyrule, as well as its star player. This was absolutely unimaginable! It shook the hierarchy of guilds in the MMORPG world, as usually the faction with the strongest and most numerous players won any conflict.
The fight sparked a heavy debate concerning Apophis's true power and resources, as well as those of his guild, Eclipse. Were they being supported from the shadows by a SuperGuild, perhaps? Some of the craziest theories even suggested he was receiving support from the criminal underworld.
All in all, the situation was akin to an unknown athlete winning every event at the Olympics. It simply made no sense. To some, the obvious answer was the most simple: Apophis was cheating or hacking. This theory quickly took off, and many demanded that "Horus's" developers ban Apophis from the game.
***
Upon realizing that Lucifer possessed a soul, Apophis decided that he couldn't risk facing him—especially if a player like Ceasar was helping.
Not to mention all the landing ships which had settled down near the city. Despite his recent powerup, Apophis realized he was quickly losing his advantage.
But neither was running away an option. If Apophis fled, the planetary capital would fall in a matter of hours, and all Apophis's soldiers would be slaughtered for their EXP.
No, Apophis would 'not' give up what he had been working towards since he left Era!
Suddenly, another player arrived on the roof! Surprisingly, it was Zelda. "Finally, you two are here. Certainly took you long enough! Let's kill this pathetic bastard and split his juicy bounty three ways!"
Ceasar answered dryly, "Get out of here, Tessa. This is a fight between true warriors. An arrogant bitch like you has no business here. Go back to sucking your guild's shareholders' cocks. I'm sure they'll give you a fat bonus if you leave them satisfied."
Zelda was furious! "Shut your mouth, you Italian bastard, or I'll take 'your' bonus too!"
Lucifer took advantage of Apophis's loss of attention and reached out his hand. An intense beam of light lanced out from his hand and swept over some buildings in the background, pulverizing them! Apophis activated ~Susanoo~ at the last moment, protecting himself from the utter destruction.
He recognized this skill at once. It was an Esper skill called ~Light Mastery~, Lucifer's main skill in both his old and new lives. It was this skill, in fact, which had earned Lucifer the nickname "God of Light."
~Light Mastery~ was very similar to ~Telekinesis~ in the sense that it required many Skill Points before it was useful in combat. Once one got it to that point, though, light itself became an Esper's weapon.
If Apophis hadn't had nearly a decade of experience with fire-based skills in his original life, the incredible potential of ~Light Mastery~ would have been his go-to choice in this new life. Considering all the fire-supporting skills he'd received since then, of course, he was glad for the choice he'd made.
As soon as Lucifer unleashed the beam of light, Ceasar used a flash skill to teleport into melee range of Apophis, then slammed him with a powerful hammer blow that launched Apophis towards Zelda.
Zelda raised her one-handed sword, charging a powerful skill that made her sword glow bright blue!
When Apophis came at her like a cannonball, she slammed her blade into him as though hitting a baseball! This cataclysmic force pulverized what was left of his ~Susanoo~, the shock wave so powerful that it destroyed part of the building's roof.
Zelda's attack hurled Apophis in a new direction at great speed, launching him more than a hundred meters into the air.
Everyone watching, both in the planetary capital and on streams, had the same thought:
It was over. He'd taken devastating blows from three top-ten players.
Not even Apophis could survive that.
