The Achievement Junkie

"Have we now?"

A new voice quietly sounded out from behind Eedaj and Rikko, near the fallen Pestro. The far-off crowds couldn't hear the voice, but the three gods could.

Eedaj ceased his speaking and jolted around. Rikko did the same while retrieving both of his daggers. The expressions on both of their faces could only be described as utter disbelief.

Hovering over Pestro was a man in an extravagant black and gold cloak. In one hand was an intricate black and gold staff that winded all the way up the shaft until it merged into a glistening diamond the size of a fist, already glowing with a massive amount of energy. In his other hand was a silver and purple scythe, simply designed but covered in feint purple scales, much like those of Karronteel. The very tip of that scythe, however, was stabbed into the man's foot, dripping blood onto Pestro.

"Tralbok, how--" Eedaj shouted and prepared an attack, but he could do nothing against the already cast spell of Tralbok.

"Reverse!"

Tralbok shouted as he stored the scythe and cast one of his personal spells, engulfing Pestro and the two neutral gods inside an ethereal barrier.

The barrier wasn't strong, but it wasn't meant to contain anything. It had a different effect.

Eedaj stopped casting his spell and turned back to face the other battlefields. Rikko stored his daggers away and did the same. Then, both of them started to smile. Words left their mouths but in reverse. Eedaj restated his little speech to the crowd but backward and Rikko laughed at Pestro strangely.

The two gods then looked back to Pestro and replayed how Rikko almost finished off Pestro but was stopped by Eedaj. Those clouds of darkness started to reappear as both Rikko and Eedaj resumed their former positions of trapping Pestro.

Pestro rose back up to his feet, feeling sensation in his body yet again as those psychic pulses left his body and Eedaj eventually lifted his hand from the Demon God's skull.

Finally, that barrier burst, leaving the three gods in their former circumstances.

Pestro stood with two daggers jutting out of him and with Rikko's neck in his grasp while the false Eedaj began to fade and the true Eedaj was hurrying to place his hand on Pestro's head.

But now, Tralbok was involved.

"Rikko!" Eedaj shouted as his target changed from Pestro to Tralbok. "You deal with Pestro! I'll handle Tralbok!"

"Uh-huh…" Rikko responded as Pestro tightened his grip.

The goblin nimbly removed his two daggers from Pestro, using one to block the swing of Pestro's sword. Rikko used the other dagger to stab into the arm holding Rikko by the neck.

Pestro snarled and groaned while Rikko twisted the knife inside the Demon God's forearm, forcing Pestro to loosen his grip.

Once Rikko had a moment of clearance, he hopped back a few steps while twirling his daggers. "Come Pestro! Want to kill Rikko?"

Roaring, Pestro chased Rikko out of the darkness and into a clear opening. There he would remove a lot of Rikko's tricky tactics and gain the advantage so long as he could catch the speedy goblin.

Both Tralbok and Eedaj stared at each other. They remained silent until Rikko and Pestro had fled from the scene.

"So, Eedaj, would you mind telling me how you stole Pestro's halberd? Or do I need to spell it out myself?" asked Tralbok.

Eedaj sighed. "I don't know how it happened. All I can assume is that Rikko stole it before Pestro arrived in Trodar. Now, did you really just use Moranti's scythe to travel here?"

"Sadly, that was my only option. Any other way would result in Pestro being left a cripple, and we can't have that," Tralbok stated.

"Then tell me, how does your body feel after going through with that?" Eedaj mockingly chuckled.

Tralbok coldly smiled. "For Moranti and his ethereal abilities, I can see why it would be useful. As for anyone else, I wouldn't recommend attempting it. It's quite painful, after all. Just look at my foot and you can tell right away."

"Why not just take Pestro away and use your Time Reversal then?" asked Eedaj. "Wouldn't he feel better after you both escaped?"

"Very funny… but we fully intend on taking advantage of this battle once and for all. We can't afford to have another rival in our current circumstances. So it's now or never."

Hearing that, Eedaj took in a deep breath. He mentally prepared for a far more taxing battle to come.

When the other battlefields saw the sudden change of the god's attitudes and the appearance of another god, they were confused until a single person resumed their attacks. It started a chain reaction as all the syndicate members picked up their weapons and started their attacks again.

However, Lorwynn showed no mercy to those who dare approach him.

And, rushing back into the fray was Hadurt and his demonic halberd.

Those alone were enough to strike fear into the army. With both now on the side of the Leisure Guild, the syndicate members felt an awkward mix of emotions. They were terrified to fight much longer against the powerful beasts and the former champions, but they were proud to see their gods gaining the advantage on their own battlefield. It left them perplexed on what their best course of action should be.

Hadurt and Lorwynn punished all syndicate members who dared to falter in their attacks. When Lorwynn finished with the batch that had chased Jack and Bowzer, he hurried over to assist the wyrm and dragon with their fight. Wanting a strong opponent, Hadurt found Jeara and raced toward her as he slew dozens of syndicate members.

Within the guild walls, Argyle and the others had just come to assist the rear. They found most of the syndicate members being killed or trapped inside a living jungle. Cleaning things up there didn't take long with their reinforcements.

Since fewer and fewer syndicate members were climbing over the wall, Argyle and Kaldor led the high-level guild members to the city wall. That's where they spotted the strange shift of the battlefield.

The arrival of Lorwynn was a huge boost of confidence and proved to be a fatal addition as he helped Hadurt dwindle the army forces. Also, they were startled to see a purple dragon fighting beside Dradich. And then there was Bowzer, who was far away from the battle and howling loudly for some reason. Jack was nowhere to be found, but he assumed that Jack was okay at the moment, given the fact that Bowzer wasn't screaming telepathically at anyone anymore.

Of all events taking place, the most surprising was the battlefield further north.

There was a huge cloud of darkness there, yet two people were fighting outside of that darkness. Those from the entrance recognized the hulking man as the god that Eedaj led outside of the city. However, they were utterly clueless as to why that powerful god was chasing after a goblin. And seeing that goblin outrun the god was all the more perplexing.

'Jack, where are you?' asked Argyle.

'On the wall… near the west gate…'

Hearing Jack's voice gave Argyle some relief but Argyle could understand from Jack's voice that the hero wouldn't be rejoining the battle anytime soon. He was glad to know that Jack managed to control himself and escape the fight before he was overpowered and killed.

'Want me to--

'Yeah… come over here, Argyle…' Jack answered before Argyle could finish his question. 'Spread everyone out… Don't let anyone avoid death…'

Argyle passed on Jack's orders, shouting, "Spread out on the wall, don't let any intruder escape death!"

With that over with, Argyle rushed toward Jack, leaving Kaldor in command. Argyle was eager to ask Jack all about the mysterious events of the outside battlefield.