The Once King

by Rachel Aaron

  The raid roared in answer, and a hungry smile spread over his sister’s face. “Let’s give him hell!”

  The players roared again. James felt like roaring himself. He didn’t know how his little sister did it. She wasn’t even a stonekin anymore, but that had never really mattered. Whatever was in her that made people want to grab their weapons and follow her into battle, it had always been Tina, not Roxxy. All the game had done was give her a way to let it out, and she did so now, setting her shield fearlessly as she charged the enemy.

  “Go!”

  James had already taken a step forward before he remembered that the order didn’t include him. It felt wrong to sit out of the fight when so much was on the line, but he needed the mana he’d recovered while he’d been studying tapestries. Even if he’d had extra to spare, though, he knew the Roughnecks had this. Tina had more experience fighting the Once King than anyone left alive. If anyone could do this, it was her, so James decided to trust his sister, leaving the fight to her as he slipped back into the tunnel to wait for his chance.

  ***

  Tina had never been so pumped in her life.

  She’d thought it was over, and then James—blessed, wonderful James—had appeared from nowhere and done what he did best. Now her raid was united. They were fresh, they were ready, and the Once King was going down. She was going to get her world-first kill at last, and she was going to save the goddamn world while she was at it.

  Didn’t get much better than that.

  “Melee, move in!” she cried as she closed the final distance. “Rangers, Casters, healers, spread out! Zen’s in charge of the back line; everyone else on me!”

  The orders weren’t technically necessary—since she’d spent their last day of practice mastering One For All, Tina actually had the least experience with the plan of anyone here—but she’d learned long ago that players forgot their own names in the excitement of a charge. If you wanted people to actually do their jobs, it never hurt to remind them what those were, so she did, yelling out assignments at the top of her lungs as she rushed the Once King, who looked nonplussed.

  “You’re really going to do this?” he asked, drawing his sword with great resignation. “Waste everyone’s time?”

  Tina’s answer to that was a thrust at his groin, the easiest part of him to reach now that she was short. The king parried easily, his face disgusted. “Mortals,” he sneered. “I will never understand how you can choose the shortsighted arrogance of hope over reality. Truly, you are blind.”

  “Save it for someone who cares,” Tina growled, swinging her shield next. The Once King dodged that, too, flapping his wings to jump back to the rim of the Great Pyre’s basin.

  “It is clear you are beyond reason,” he announced, lifting his sword high. “But I will do my sacred duty whether you understand it or not.”

  Tina responded by lifting a finger over her shield. The middle one. “Do it, Frank!”

  From both sides of the terrace, the melee who’d moved in at her command began to charge, sweeping in toward the Once King from both sides. The winged elf’s sneer deepened as the Knights, Berserkers, and Assassins rushed in, and then he flapped his wings, lifting high out of their reach into the sky before turning to charge the healers.

  Which was exactly what they’d hoped he’d do.

  “He’s up!” Zen yelled from the back. “Flak defense!”

  The Once King had already swept past her position, which was a real shame. Tina would have given a nonvital organ to see his sneer fall off when, instead of panicking, all the Roughnecks assigned to the back line turned and unloaded into his face. Agility-stacked Rangers fired glowing arrows like machine guns while the raid’s Sorcerers unleashed a stream of fast-cast Fireballs. There was no way to tell without damage numbers, but the fusillade had to be worth several million damage at least. Whatever it was, it was enough to force the king to abandon his charge, peeling off into a barrel roll instead as he tried in vain to dodge the hundreds of arrows, fireballs, and lightning bolts cascading into him. When he turned to fly out of range of the damage, though, Tina raised her hand.

  “Uh uh!” she shouted up at him. “No being a chicken! Zen, show him what happens if he runs!”

  At her command, the Ranger officer turned and fired a glowing arrow over Tina’s head. The deadly green bolt whistled across the terrace to land inside the bowl of the Great Pyre. The explosion of acid that followed was quickly burned off by the ghostfire, but not before the magical attack left pits on the bodies of the dead elves.

  “Your choice, asshole!” Tina yelled up at the flying Once King, who’d gone still. “We’re gonna DPS something! You or your fire, what’s it gonna be?”

  For a delicious second, the Once King stared at her with real fear. Then he inverted his climb and spun around, plummeting toward the raid like a meteor. As he dove, he waved his free hand in a spell, using his mana to call an enormous tendril of ghostfire. At their master’s command, the blue-white flames erupted, rising from the Great Pyre’s basin to surround the king’s sword in a wall of unholy flames as big as he was.

  “Shit,” Tina said, eyes going wide at the sheer size of the attack before she ducked behind her bulwark. “Ready the windshield!”

  It was undignified, but this was one of the hardest lessons they’d learned from fighting Gregory. Smart bosses could guess a lot from their shouted orders and the context of battle, enough sometimes to counter tactics they’d never seen before. The Roughnecks had quickly discovered the best way to avoid this was to use terms that were easy to understand and remember for gamers and/or people from Earth but that sounded like nonsense to the people of this world. Even this strategy was limited, though. A smart boss might not be able to guess what they meant the first time, but he’d remember it the second. All the more reason to make every attack count.

  And every defense, Tina thought to herself, staring nervously from behind her shield at the tractor trailer–sized blade of ghostfire coming straight at her. For a moment, it looked like their whole raid was about to get whacked all the way back down through the mountain. Then, without any callouts of ability to give it away, golden light blossomed beneath their feet as multiple overlapping Sanctuary of the Four bubbles, the Cleric’s invincible golden shields, popped open like umbrellas to cover them.

  The timing was even better than in practice. A split second after the golden wall appeared, the unstoppable force of the Once King slammed into it at full speed.

  Like a bug on a windshield.

  A grin spread over Tina’s face as the wall of ghostfire exploded over them, creating a ring-shaped shock wave that flew off into the distance. The golden dome rang like a temple bell from the collision, and Tina swore she heard the crunch of the ancient elf’s bones.

  “Cancel!” she yelled, unwilling to wait the full duration. The Clerics dissolved their spells immediately, and Tina got her prize. The Once King fell toward them in a stunned tangle of his own wings, scattering the melee as he crashed to the ground. Knowing the weakness wouldn’t last, Tina ran forward. The rest of the Berserkers and Knights followed suit, surrounding the downed king in a ring of enchanted steel. She was giving the order to start a good old-fashioned dog-pile hackfest when the Once King shot back to his feet.

  And paused.

  The grin on Tina’s face got even wider. “See it now, don’t you?” she taunted. “You go up, we shoot you down. You run out of range, we take a swing at your precious ghostfire. Looks like you’ve got no choice but to stay down here in the mud with us. But hey, if you want to run back to the sky, we’ll be happy to keep up the focus fire.”

  The Once King’s burning eyes narrowed at her. “Only fools crow their victory at sunrise,” he growled, sweeping his sword at the encircling ring to make them jump back. “I will show you the fate of the sparrow who challenges the hawk.”

  “Ooooh, I’m scared,” Tina taunted. “Whatcha gonna do, bird brain? Tickle m—”

  The towering elf used his w
ings and his legs to launch himself along the ground like a bullet—straight at her.

  Tina scrambled frantically get into her protective crouch. Of all the potential targets, she hadn’t actually expected him to pick the tank. But apparently taunting sometimes worked in real life, too, because the Once King’s giant armored knee was already slamming into her shield, sending force exploding through the bulwark and into her.

  And it was here, in the first real hit of the fight, that Tina learned just how big a difference there was between a normal five-skull like Gregory and the Once King. The hit didn’t just take her off her feet, it launched her into the air. She would have flown right off the mountain if Killbox hadn’t caught her boot at the last second, sending the whole world spinning as he checked her momentum and sent her slamming back into the ground.

  She landed hard enough to crack the stone. The impact knocked the breath clean out of her. She was still trying to get it back as Killbox dragged her to her feet again. But then, before she could get back into position or even resume breathing, someone started to scream.

  Tina’s head snapped up, looking frantically for the raid boss. She found him on top of Frank. Her fellow Tank was on the ground with the king’s sword sticking out of his thigh like he was a bug on a board. The Once King yanked his blade free as she watched, whipping the point hard enough to send Frank spinning before he turned and swept his sword up to meet the two Berserkers who’d been going for his back.

  Everything went to shit after that.

  The Berserkers landed their attacks, but their colossal axes drew mere flecks of blood before the Once King cut them both down in an arc of crimson. Meanwhile, heals were landing on Frank, but just as he was getting back up, the Once King turned and kicked him into an oncoming Knight, sending them both tumbling across the paving stones. Keeping the move going, the Once King used the momentum to land a haymaker on the next Berserker coming in from his left. The hulking player blocked the hit on his canned-ham arms, but it didn’t help at all. Tina could hear bones snapping from across the terrace, followed by his cries of agony as he hit the ground like a hammer.

  Never one to miss a chance, Zen yelled an order, and a volley of arrows screamed in through the gap left by the falling Berserker. The Rangers couldn’t use their acid or explosive shots with so many friendlies in the area, but the geared players’ normal arrows were still deadly. Or, at least, that’s what Tina had thought. But the screaming shots that should have perforated him barely scratched the Once King’s armor instead, not even distracting his attention as the king threw his sword left. The dark, gleaming blade moved so fast that Tina had trouble following its movement, but she saw all too well where it stopped in the chest of a Roughneck Knight named Jonsey.

  The Knight looked down in surprise, staring at the huge sword sticking out of his ribcage like he didn’t understand what had happened. Then Jonsey’s body went slack, his giant two-handed sword clattering to the stone like a cymbal as he fell over with a brilliant red splat. Tina was still staring at the copious red blood in horror when she realized the Once King was now looking at her.

  “Steady Ground!”

  It wasn’t even a conscious thought. She’d activated the defense reflexively, which turned out to be a very good thing when the Once King charged her like a rocket. Her feet sealed to the floor just in time as the boss’s Eclipsed Steel boot slammed into her shield with the force of a runaway train carrying fifty miles’ worth of bricks. For a moment, she was driven down into the ground as the floor cracked and crumbled beneath her, then hot sparks singed her face as her shield’s slightly curved surface deflected the king’s kick over Tina’s head.

  The world went dark as the Once King’s body passed over her. Vaguely, in the distance, Tina was aware of flashing light as the healers poured magic into Jonsey, but all she could see was the shadow of the Celestial Elf’s wings as he leaped over her, his lightning-fast sword already flitting down to stab into her unguarded back.

  Dropping Steady Ground to unlock her feet, Tina whirled to face him, but not fast enough. She didn’t know if there was a “fast enough” as the burning-cold steel punched through the side of her enchanted armor to enter her guts. But as bad as it hurt to be run through by a sword as thick as her arm, that pain was nothing compared to the searing heat of the ghostfire as it caught inside her.

  Tina wasn’t entirely sure what happened after that. She remembered screaming and thrashing as she tried to get herself off the Once King’s blade. Then ZeroDarkness leaped from the king’s shadow, his twin daggers stabbing the elf’s back between the wings at high speed. SilentBlayde emerged from Tina’s own shadow at the same time, his arms clamping around her waist like a vise as he yanked her off the Once King’s sword. A hail of blessed, pain-removing healing magic landed on her a second later, and she collapsed into SB as they both landed on the ground.

  “Tina!”

  Too shaken from the blistering pain to move, Tina lay slack on top of him. She wouldn’t even have opened her eyes if his hands hadn’t caught her face.

  “Tina,” he said again, forcing her to look at him. “This is bad. We’re supposed to be running him out of mana, but he hasn’t even cast anything yet, and he’s still mauling us. We need a new plan!”

  Tina’s head was ringing too hard to remember the old plan. Now that her eyes were open again, though, there was no denying that Blayde was right. The Once King had already abandoned her to launch himself into their back lines. More screams rang out, more blood splattered on the ground, then the terrace lit up as the Roughnecks returned fire, taking advantage of every gap the Once King left. There were many—even he couldn’t defend from every angle—but Tina already knew it wasn’t going to be enough. They were getting damage in, but it was hardly dinging his two billion HP. At this rate, they’d all be stains on the pavement before they hurt him enough for the king to notice.

  “We’re not gonna last five minutes like this,” she gasped, pushing off her elf at last. “Healing’s keeping pace so far, but if he keeps getting those big hits in, it’s only a matter of time before someone loses a head.” Couldn’t heal that.

  “What are we going to do?” SB asked, looking nervously at her side, where her freshly healed skin was visible through the gaping hole in her armor.

  “We need more mud,” Tina growled, hauling herself back to her feet. “Tell Zen it’s chain time. I’ll make the opening, and then you do it just like you did at practice.”

  “Right,” he said, sinking into the shadows. Then he popped back out to press a desperate kiss to her cheek. “Love you.”

  There was no time to say she loved him back. No time for anything. It was all happening so much faster than she’d planned. The chains were supposed to be their big finisher. Using them now meant they’d have no cards left, but Tina didn’t see any other choice. The flashes of gold and green from the healing camp were going off constantly now, and the terrace was slick with so much of their blood. As things stood, the healers’ mana pools were the only reasons they weren’t all dead already. Once those ran dry, it would really be over.

  Another scream rang out as the Once King crushed a Sorcerer’s ribcage before Frank managed to get in between them, catching a blow to his own head in the process. Wincing at her fellow tank’s gasp of pain, Tina scanned around for Zen to see if SB had delivered her order yet. Thankfully, the Ranger’s height and bright-green hair made her easy to spot. She met Tina’s eyes and raised her bow in reply. Satisfied that part of the plan was ready at least, Tina lifted her sword, trusting SB to do his part as she raised her voice over the chaos.

  “Hey, chicken wings!” she bellowed, banging her shield with her armored fist. Fifty feet away, the Once King looked up from the Ranger he was disemboweling to give her a sneer.

  Tina sneered back. “That last hit didn’t do jack!” she cried, lowering her shield to show him her healed side through the hole in her armor. “You gotta try harder than that to hurt me! Put your legs into it next ti
me!”

  The eternal elf arched a perfect gray eyebrow as arrows rattled off his back. Then he turned back to his victim with a condescending shake of his head, ignoring her.

  Tina cursed under her breath. Clearly, words weren’t going to be enough this time. If this was going to happen, she needed to go all in, so Tina forced herself to unclench her hand, putting her life in SilentBlayde’s hands as she released her shield, dropping the giant bulwark on the ground with a deafening clang.

  That got his attention.

  “Come on, fucker!” Tina cried as the Once King’s head snapped back to her. “You want to kill me? You’ll never get a better shot than this!”

  She threw her arms wide, showing him her now completely unguarded torso. Sure enough, the Once King’s eyes flashed eagerly when he saw an open shot, and Tina shifted her weight in preparation for the charge. But he didn’t charge. He just flicked his arm, his sword hand suddenly empty as he launched his sword through the air like a missile straight at her.

  Tina’s eyes flew wide. Oh shit, she thought as her death approached at supersonic speeds. SB, you’d better be fast. You’d better be fast as—

  A shape launched out of her shadow. It moved so fast she couldn’t see more than a blur, faster than even the Once King’s sword as it flashed between her and the incoming weapon. Then the flash solidified into the body of SilentBlayde, his swords crossed in a guard in front of him. Silver blades met black in a shower of sparks, and then it was Tina’s turn to catch as the force of the Once King’s thrown weapon crashed into them both. She staggered backward, getting a foot behind her as she caught her husband. Then she heard the immensely satisfying clatter of the Once King’s Eclipsed Steel blade landing on the stone floor.

  Wasting no time, Tina leaped out from behind SB to grab the Once King’s sword. Seizing it in the hand that normally held her shield, she waved the huge blade like a flag at the boss, making damn sure he saw it before sliding the black sword into the sheath her tanking blade normally occupied.