Lucifer and Ceasar glared at Apophis for a long while.

Then Ceasar said aloud, "The Hyrule players seem to have done very poorly. Have you instructed our men to bolster their fire and darkness resistances? This man should 'not' be underestimated."

Lucifer nodded. "We have enough potions to last a day of continuous combat. Unfortunately, this will only allow us to absorb 80% of these types of damage. Anything short of invulnerability might still be fatal if we're not careful. Even if we have the advantage, we must not let our guards down!"

Ceasar said, "Don't worry, Lucifer, no one will have to die. I'll face him alone. That was one of my conditions for joining the mission, remember? If I failbut don't count on itthen he'll be close to death, anyway. Feel free to finish him with our little war fleet and army."

Lucifer gave a thin smile, but his tone was one of irritation. "Don't start with that again, Ceasar! You know very well that your own guild leader would reprimand you for your lack of restraint if he heard you. This is no joke, nor is it a simple matter of revenge. Billions of GC are at stake, as well as the future of our two SuperGuilds!"

Ceasar shrugged. "I couldn't care less what my guild leader has to say about it. I've been farming Nightmare dungeons for months to beat this guy. Besides, you're leading the best PvP team in the game, so my actions couldn't possibly be a threat to you. Quit the bullshit. If you truly had a problem with it, you wouldn't have kept asking me along. I'm going to duel Apophis, and beat him, and that's that."

Ceasar activate his Warrior buffing skill and drank a stat- boosting potion in a practiced sequence of actions which took barely a moment, but Lucifer blocked him before he could jump into the fight.

"Ceasar! If you lose, you'll damage our troops' morale and weaken our position on the planet! Players can still switch sides and we'll lose the planet! Please, think of the big picture!"

But Ceasar ignored Lucifer completely and pushed past him.

"Very well!" Lucifer snapped. "Go fight if you want! Enjoy your last moments in Renovatio Imperii! There's a world outside 'Horus,' you know, and you're throwing it all away! Your money, your home on Mars, your family!"

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Ceasar froze.

His obsession over the past months had been so great that "Horus" had indeed seemed more real to him than his IRL life. He'd taken his guild salary for granted, being so effective in his guild role that he never contemplated the possibility of losing everything in the real world he'd worked so hard for.

Lucifer's threat put things into perspective. No, he couldn't risk everything just for a duel.

Ceasar's blood boiled. He wanted to rip Lucifer's head from his shoulders. How dare he threaten to ruin Caesar's life for something like this?

But before the two elite players could argue any further, an explosion shook the building where they both stood!

Apophis appeared before them even before their ears stopped ringing, and then there were three of them atop the building.

Apophis turned to Lucifer, his eyes smoldering. "Don't worry, Lucifer. Nothing Ceasar does will change that fact that you're going to die here today. Once I settle your account, the planet will belong to me. Your two guilds will disband in shame, and you'll have no better option than to join my guild as an underling."

Lucifer tensed, shouting back defiantly to Apophis, "Finally, here he is, the so-called best player of 'Horus!' Your 115,000,000 GC bounty is impressiveeven I dreamed of killing you and retiring comfortablybut you're forgetting something essential, Apophis.

"The higher your bounty ranking, the worse penalty you get for dying! When I killed Arthas of the Scourge SuperGuild to stop his guild from helping the Orc Empire, his character stopped earning EXP for a month! If you fall today in PvP, you'll never be able to catch back up! You'll be pathetically crawling after all the true elites forever."

Apophis replied, "You think I'm scared of risks? When I entered the IronMan dungeon, I came close to permadeath. But I triumphed and grew far stronger than any other Eternal. I am Apophis, the God of Death!"

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Lucifer smirked. "Aha, interesting! So that's how you got your power. I can't imagine how stressful it must be to live like you, always having to accept absurd risks for a bit more power.

"Unlike you, I don't need to do imbalanced dungeons to get levels, skills, or gear. I have the support of a SuperGuild with millions of players who, every second, funnel resources into me. 10% of all guild EXP goes to me, and I have first pick of every item and skill looted by my members!"

Apophis was amazed. He'd known that guilds extracted such a tax from their players, but hadn't been truly aware that all these resources were given to their star players in such exclusivity!

Suddenly, it made so much more sense how the SuperGuild star players in his former life had managed to exceed even lvl 200. They grew in power by plundering the average players beneath them.

Lucifer smiled, moved close to Apophis, and extended his hand.

"You know, Apophis, I admire you a lot. It would take hardly anything for you to reach the top. If you want, you could gain the same benefits as me. Come join Lord Of War! You'd have so much money that you wouldn't know what to do with it.

"You could buy the most beautiful cars, the most beautiful women, the most beautiful home! Your family will lack nothing for the next ten generations, and you can bask in the glory of being an untouchable top player in 'Horus' for years to come! Take my hand and we'll draw up a contract immediately!"

Apophis stared at Lucifer's hand. "And I assume I'd be under your command?"

Lucifer smiled. "Well, under the orders of Lord Of War's guild leader."

Apophis returned the smile, though there was a sharp malice to it."Ah, Lucifer. To tell you the truth, I've admired you for years. I consider you to be objectively the best player in the world. So I'm very sorry to say this, Lucifer but there's only one place on the throne, and it belongs to me!"

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Ceasar and Lucifer couldn't help but grin, despite the situation. They understand perfectly. They, too, desired to be at the top, on the throne of the world. They didn't care about money, nor what people thought of them.

All the three of them wanted to be the best. In that goal, the three were kindred spirits.

Lucifer said, "I expect nothing less from Ceasar's rival. Unfortunately, though, your ambitions will prove insufficient. You're alone here."

Before Apophis could prepare to fight, Enclabossa spoke up. "My Lord! Sorry to disturb you, but I must inform you of an urgent problem."

Apophis was surprised. Enclabossa usually remained silent unless spoken to. "I'm listening," said Apophis.

"The player on the right, Lucifer, is also a host of a soul."

Apophis frowned. "How's that possible?"

Apophis knew little about souls. Certainly, he knew that they could be incredibly powerful, that they usually dropped as raid rewards, and that a player had only one chance to bond with any soul, a chance which could easily fail if the personalities were incompatible

But he had no way of knowing how Lucifer could have gotten this soul of his, nor how powerful it might make him. After all, Apophis had received a 2X stat multiplier from Enclabossa! What were the chances that Lucifer possessed some similar, unknown potential?

So Apophis found himself facing down the man who was not only the strongest player in their original life, but who also possessed a completely unknown power.

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The outcome of this fight would be anyone's guess.