Chapter 15: Thank You for the Game
Lupe was always the most reserved of Hysterica's core members.
He never really talked about his family, nothing about his origins. John didn't know if he was married, what food he liked, what other hobbies he had: nothing. John didn't even remember his last name, its possible Lupe never even mentioned it.
He wasn't cold, nor impolite - Lupe was simply quiet. He kept his friendship and the guild separate from his personal life.
Still, there are some things that can't be separated so easily. John learned Lupe was from Trayin when the RISE corporation was organizing transportation for the guild for a tournament. He also knew Lupe's age and his professional past in other RPGs and the Thunder Guild.
He sometimes revealed strictly game related parts of his past. Lupe had mentioned that he had been part of the pre-release and that he had started in Gyead. He was once the leader of Thunder's Gyead operations along with an archer. He had gathered a decent reputation before eventually leaving the Thunder Guild and moving West towards the Greight Republic.
Little quirks, playstyles, and personality cannot be hidden too. Lupe played carefully, took every fight seriously, and committed himself to constant growth. He preferred to let others take leadership and he was always conscious of his shortcomings.
Of course, he had never disclosed anything regarding his murderous intentions.
Overall, Lupe was a closed book – one could get a clue from the cover, from the publishing date and synopsis, but never know the whole story.
But now, the Thunder Guild duo was opened under the floodlights and a stare. Every fiber of John's virtual being was wholly focused on them. It wasn't the same as in the mall - Lupe's virtual face drew out a different kind of anger just like how RISE drew out infinite possibilities.
"They knew," Lupe muttered. Lupe and Kain were instantly aware of John's eyes staring directly at them.
"So what if they know?" Kain growled lowly. He could feel the power behind the thief's clenched expression and dark eyes.
Thunder hadn't been limited to VRMMORPG's. In fact, Kain had been a champion in VR fighting games, renown for his greedy solo playstyle that feature overwhelming aggression. On stage, he bore a silent arrogance that emanated from the body.
When the Thunder Guild realized the potential of RISE early on, all assets were planned to be allocated to the new game, eventually pairing the star, Kain, with the reticent Lupe. But against all expectations, the fiery Kain was quieted.
Kain never said anything, but when he was around Lupe he felt a sort of unease, not quite fear, but apprehensiveness.
It was the ones who were quiet, who hid their abilities, that scared Kain. This was all because of an incident in his childhood. Lupe never really restrained his abilities, however, a weaker version of the feeling developed nonetheless. Maybe that was why he choose a ranged class instead of a melee fighter.
Now, back into his natural habitat, the arena, Kain felt a resonance with John, sparking his violent tendencies. "He's begging for a fight."
Lupe approached then situation more calmly. A quick scan of the area revealed that one of the other members was in a vacant ring. "There's another one in the arena."
"Is that so? You take him, I want the thief."
"Alright."
Kain's excitement decreased, just a bit, from surprise. He hadn't expected Lupe to agree: it didn't fit Kain's view of Lupe.
Lupe walked forward very calmly, taking the stairs rather than jumping or sliding like the previous participants. Simultaneously, John's fist clenched. He was tempted, so very tempted to enter the fight. But he didn't.
Gram released his greatsword from his back and planted in the ground before him. "Infinite Lupe," he said reading the name. "You wanna duel?"
"Just Lupe please," Lupe replied. That was another odd thing about him. The playful pun of a username never suited his demeanor. "And yes, I would like a duel."
Gram sent the duel invite and brought his weapon into a combat position. The dueling mode in RISE was only available in an arena. It would prevent the death of the participants, ejecting them from the mode and restoring their prior condition. It could be considered a separate instance where most cooldowns would be refreshed at the beginning.
A countdown timer visible to everyone appeared between the two players. They would be frozen at a set distance before the duel started.
"Good luck," Lupe said as the countdown ticked down from ten.
"Oh," Gram had been tense, gripping the weapon tightly. "Yes. Err. Likewise."
The changing numbers hit zero, giving a satisfactory flash before fading.
But before they could completely vanish, Gram initiated with a charge. He swung his greatsword in a distorted figure-8 pattern. This was one of the warrior techniques popular in the early stages that John had shared with Gram.
Lupe immediately backed up as the sweeping strokes of the massive greatsword bore down on him. The blade might not have made contact, but the imposing heft was enough to force a retreat.
Gram continued with the rampant advance. The warrior might not be an agile class compared to the balanced skirmisher, but Gram's frontal assault was certainly faster than backpedaling.
At the point where the strokes were to overlap with Lupe, Lupe raised his longsword, deflecting the greatsword upwards with a clean two-handed block.
[The durability of the Starter Longsword has dropped by 5]
[The overwhelming impact has caused a minor collision proc in your wrists]
The impact was far greater than Lupe expected, the comparatively overwhelming strength of a level three warrior causing a numbing pain in both wrists.
Lupe had no time to recover as Gram's shiny greatsword exhibited a blueish tint. Sweep broke the pattern as it came downwards in a diagonal cut that was difficult to block.
With his numbed arms, Lupe could only fall backward, avoiding the vicious blow at the cost of stability.
-13
Still, he lost a small portion of health as the greatsword glanced his left forearm.
Gram pushed forward again. The greatsword was in a poor position after the weighty swing and he gave a Lupe a kick that connected with the left shoulder.
-7
[Your left shoulder has been numbed by a collision proc]
Collision was the most easily activated effect but also usually the least pivotal one. Lupe suffered another numbing effect, this time inhibiting his shoulder and causing him to fall flat on his back.
Gram recovered his greatsword and slammed it down in an overhead smash. This was the problem with warriors that used such an exaggerated style. After breaking their greatsword pattern and exhausting their combo skills, their low attack rate gave the opponent an opportunity.
Lupe traced the falling mass with his eyes and rolled to the side. There was no way for him to block such a blow from that position.
He managed to jump to his feet during the intermediate period between Gram's swings.
At the same time, Gram lifted up the heavy blade. "You have some skill," he said and advanced again with his dominating swing pattern. The relentless style was almost uncharacteristic of the otherwise easygoing Gram.
Lupe didn't reply – that was another one of his quirks – he never said anything during a duel. Instead, his teeth were grit as he formed his stance again.
He didn't retreat as the warrior accelerated his blitz. Instead, he focused on reading the timing of the greatsword. That was an additional flaw of Gram's playstyle: it could be very predictable at times.
Just before impact, Lupe stepped aside and simultaneously diverted Gram's swing, minimizing motion and pushing closer, beyond the effective range of the greatsword.
A grin could be seen forming on Gram's face as if he was expecting it. The predictive motions were a trap; Lupe had noticed it when his blade brushed with Gram's. The blow carried far less strength than expected.
"Gotcha."
The greatsword was coming back downwards with renewed vigor.
In response, Lupe's sword glowed as he used his first skill of the battle.
[Stab]
A - Grade Skill
Rank:1
Damage: 4-8 + (120% Base Damage) SDU (Penetration)
Cooldown: 16s
Notes: Lunges forward suddenly in a stabbing motion, dealing massive single target damage; very high chance of causing a penetration proc.
Instead of pointing the ability directly towards Gram's core, Lupe directed it towards Gram's left knee. This caused Lupe to dash to the side, avoiding Gram's swing. Lupe was cautious of a potential collision proc from Gram's earlier collision chain.
The longsword skillfully found its way into one of the chinks between the plates.
-26
[You have suffered a penetration proc in the left knee.]
Gram groaned after experiencing a surge of pain. Penetration procs did heavy damage to functionality and could also cause internal bleeding, slowing the warrior's movements.
-7
-8
-9
Lupe seized the moment, delivering a quick series of blows to Gram's upper-body and swiftly retreated before Gram could retaliate. Lupe didn't show it, but he was unsatisfied with the damage: plate armor's defense was just too good against slices.
Gram panted for a second, creating a lull in the battle. "You're good, actually," he admitted with a laugh that shook his heaving shoulder plates. "Really good."
Lupe didn't say anything but went on offense this time, abusing the poor sustainability of the warrior. Instead of a two-handed grip, he kept his right hand on the handle and clasped the longsword with his left hand halfway down the blade.
Gram gave another swing. This time, Lupe blocked the greatsword with the section between his hands. The additional leverage allowed the skirmisher to push aside the larger weapon with relative ease.
With Gram's sword out of the way, Lupe stepped into Gram's personal region. The forward position of the left hand allowed Lupe to deliver swift, accurate jabs as if the meter-long steel plate were a short spear.
-7
-10
-6
-20
The sharp tip of the half-sword darted around before finding a weakness under the arm. Starter warriors' plate armor didn't have the standard chain mail that covered this weak point. Blood splashed as the steel cut through the soft fabric of Gram's garments.
[You have suffered a stab to the right underarm, causing bleeding and weakening of the arm]
While Lupe unleashed the torrent of stabs, Gram was desperate to bring the unwieldy greatsword into a defensive position but the same strength – the sword's fantastic reach – was a fatal weakness. Peppered by Lupe's well-aimed thrusts, he had no choice but to let go of his weapon with one hand and interrupt Lupe's combo.
-6
[A collision to the face had briefly stunned you]
The warrior's high-strength fist bashed Lupe's face. The nose smooshed under the impact and Lupe suffered a minor blunt force trauma proc that gave Gram some breathing room.
Still, a little bloody nose was nothing compared to the fountain spurting from the exhausted Gram. Bleed ticks started chewing at his dwindling health pool.
-1
-1
Lupe wiped his face and spat out a tooth, then promptly pressed the attack.
Gram gave a huge swing which Lupe deflected with a bit of strength. The greatsword lost the monstrous momentum it demonstrated earlier with the weakening of the plate armored fighter.
Gram immediately followed up with Sweep which just came off cooldown. He was hoping that the unknown cooldown and attack interval reduction would be enough to catch Lupe off guard, but the blade hit nothing but air: Lupe was actively improving his reaction to Gram's tactics.
By ducking under the sweeping attack, Lupe was behind Gram. His right hand skillfully shifted its position to near the tip of the blade. The longsword instantly became a surprisingly formidable blunt weapon.
The pommel plummeted down in an overhead swing, striking Gram's helmet at the top of the skull. One must know that to properly balance the sword, the pommel was surprisingly heavy.
-12
[You have suffered a traumatic head injury]
The helmet protected the skull, but Gram virtual brain crashed around inside it. The health point damage wasn't that great although Lupe was well aware of the viciousness of a well-placed collision proc. Gram was stunned as his eyes temporarily lost vision.
Abusing the opportunity, Lupe plunged the actual striking end of the longsword deep through the gap between the helmet and chest piece.
-70
Gram immediately collapsed.
And the duel ended.
Fights in RISE, especially the ones in the early game, weren't elegant. It wasn't gentlemanly, a player didn't fight clean, and trickery was the universal key to victory. They were fast - this one was less than half a minute - and bloody with death possible in any instant.
Lupe stood for a moment and wiped the blood from his face, both his and Gram's. Then he displayed another one of his eccentricities.
"Thank you for the game."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone