In the underground parking lot, the fight between Understanding Death and Shiva had reached its climax. They were standing in a zone covered in a blurry, colorful haze, and the ground underneath them was littered with empty paint cans.
“You have used ten large health potions, with the dwindling effect… Their effect is soon going to run out for you, isn’t it?” Shiva’s expression was unfazed, and he sounded like he had victory in hand.
“Humph… ’soon’?” Understanding Death had a smile on his face. “Don’t you know the exact data of the dwindling effect after using three health potions in succession?”
“So what if you do and I don’t?” Shiva replied. “You people from Regulation always do these boring things. How can the small difference in data change anything? Can it help you beat me?”
“Ha… every time we fight, your attitude always manages to ruffle my feathers,” Understanding Death said. “A person like you who can get so strong without planning anything… I guess that is a fighting genius…”
“I don’t care whether I’m a genius or not,” Shiva answered as he looked around. “What I care about is… now that you are cornered, you still chose to defend and not attack, dragging the battle out. There must be a reason behind it. Right… Is it related to these floating colors?”
“Ha! That makes me envious!” Understanding Death said. “You can make the correct prediction with instinct, but… even so, you ignore it fully knowing that it is my tactic. You underestimate me too much!”
Understanding Death struck with his palms, and it carried with it a ball of colorful blast as it headed for Shiva. Shiva’s expression shifted; his instincts told him that he had to avoid this strike. He kicked the ground behind him and sidestepped the strike. The colorful palm strike was like an unleashed beast, ferocious and strong. After brushing past Shiva, it continued to blast forward before landing on an unlucky dude’s SUV. The car had a strange change. The whole car, both inside and out, was dyed with different colors, and two seconds later, it exploded like a firework.
This was not a normal explosion but a skill effect. After the SUV shattered into pieces, upon closer inspection, they saw that the pieces all looked like shapes from Tetris blocks.
“So, this is it… When the paint in the air reaches a certain density, your attacks will carry this kind of scary effect.” Shiva looked at the blocks calmly. “But… if I leave this space, won’t your effort be wasted?”
“You can try…” When Understanding Death said that, the outer layer of the floating color started to congeal. Soon, a colorful wall surrounded the two. Even the cement above and below him turned into colorful blocks.
“No wonder you were fighting like a coward earlier and wasted such a large number of health potions to expand the battlefield as far as you could,” Shiva commented. “I don’t know whether this is your skill or equipment or a combination of both… but it is indeed powerful. Give you enough time to prepare, and it is a flawless ultimate.”
“It is too late for you to praise me now. This is your own fault for underestimating me!” Understanding Death jumped and kicked. A sickle of air shot out. This attack was like a huge wave, and there was no way to hide. With a sigh, the stone plates behind Shiva all showed a strong light. The eight stone plates with different shapes gathered to form a giant hourglass.
“I’m surprised that you would force me to use this,” Shiva said darkly. In that moment, a blast of energy, with the hourglass as its center, charged forward, dispersing the surrounding colorful fog and crumbling the walls. Even Understanding Death was blasted into dust by the attack.
This was one of the effects of Shiva’s Sorcery weapon, Heavenly Hourglass. The effect ’Sanctuary’ could remove the effects of all enemy skills and equipment, including passive skills, within the area for one minute. After that, the Stone Plate ’Earth’ would crumble and would only recover after returning to the log-in lobby.
The Heavenly Hourglass had eight properties—Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void, Sun, Mood, Destruction. Currently, Shiva had only mastered the effect of the ’Earth’ Sanctuary, and ’Water’ Purification. But with these two, it was clear how powerful his sorcery weapon was.
“Impossible…” Seeing all his effort waste away, Understanding Death felt deep despair.
At that moment, the memory from his youth rushed into his mind. Back then, Understanding Death was not a professional player; he was just a high school student who liked to play games and favored fighting games. He was hugely talented with great skill. He had no match in his circle of friends. That was until the day the game started to sell paying items…
That day, he entered the high-tier game area like usual, and the young man with an eighty-percent win rate was destroyed the whole day, only winning a few battles. His tactics were perfect, and his reaction time and mind set were professional, but… before whales, they were pointless. He tried his best, but with the push of the button, he would be destroyed. And at this moment, Understanding Death once again felt that helplessness and the unwillingness of losing an unfair battle.
“Nothing is impossible,” Shiva said. “If you are not satisfied, go and get your Sorcery Weapon. Then come and challenge me again.”
With a wave of his hand, the hourglass separated, but only seven stone plates remained.
Understanding Death did not move, and he looked calm. He did not have many Life Points left. Even if he wanted to run, he did not have enough Stamina Point. As a fighter, he wanted to at least maintain his last shred of pride. The seven stone plates shot out different color beams toward Understanding Death. He did not evade because he understood when the effect of his skill evaporated… the battle had been decided.
Several seconds later, Understanding Death morphed into white light and disappeared. In the game menu, his name now had ’Dead’ next to it.
“Phew.” Shiva sighed and mumbled, “Originally, I planned to keep Sanctuary to deal with that guy’s Blood Golem… Didn’t think I’d be cornered to use it now…”
He had crossed path with King of Shadows before, and he knew how threatening he was. So, he realized that King of Shadows was the real player who was a threat to him in this scenario.
“But it’s good that I’ve dealt with Understanding Death,” Shiva said as he opened the menu to confirm the other players’ status. To his shock, when his eyes moved to the player statuses, next to King of Shadows’ name, there was the term ’Dead’.
“What‽” Shiva was stunned. “He’s already killed‽”