The Grand Duelist

Alice somersaulted in the air and she landed gracefully on the ground.

"Alice..." Joseph coughed and a fountain of blood escaped from his throat towards the ground, drenching it crimson.

Thankfully, the damage that he suffered didn't exceed twenty-five thousand hit points or else he would've been fucked once he suffered from the effects of stiffness due to receiving tremendous damage in an instant.

"Joseph... No, it's not me... I'm not the one who did it..." Alice whispered in shock. Tears continuously dripped down her eyes and drenched her cheeks.

"I know... I know it's not you..." Joseph nodded his head. He abruptly leaped backwards towards the direction of Alice in order to dodge the attack of the Second Elder whose fists missed once again.

"No matter how heavy your punches are, they are still useless if they cannot hit me!" Joseph coldly mocked, but the Second Elder suddenly revealed a sly smile.

Joseph felt a bad premonition in his heart and he swiftly turned around.

Alice was already running towards him with a bloodied dried tree branch in her hands. 

"Damn it!" Joseph inwardly cursed, he sent a kick directly at Alice's chest, sending the young maiden flying backwards towards a nearby boulder.

But right when he was done dealing with Alice. Another attack flew towards him. This time, it was from the City Chief who hurriedly rushed towards him when he realized that Joseph was in a pinch.

"This will serve as a hard lesson for you, punk!" The City Chief wielded two daggers.

His hands blurred as his attacks descended upon Joseph.

But Joseph remained steadfast in the face of these attacks. Although somewhat nervous due to the pressure of facing three enemies at the same time. As the Grand Duelist of the current generation. Joseph felt confident in his abilities when it came to close-quarters combat.

He ducked down, narrowly avoiding the punch from the Second Elder that aimed for his neck before whispering into the air.

"Precision and Grace..." At that moment, Joseph's speed surpassed the expectations of the elders. His body blurred and the elders found it hard to keep their eyes on him since he was too blurry and dizzying to look at.

And at the moment that the elders squinted their eyes to see him clearly.

Joseph had already moved...

"All-Seeing Eyes..." He uttered and the world around him changed. The weaknesses and the so-called advantages of the two elders were clearly marked on their bodies in the form of small circles that Joseph could penetrate to shatter.

A light smile escaped on his lips as he swiftly stabbed at the Second Elder from underneath.

The Second Elder cried out and he staggered backward in pain.

[You dealt 9,521 damage!]

This momentary exchange gave enough Joseph time to breathe...

He didn't even look at the City Chief as he hurriedly twisted his body and drew a full circle around him using his Rapier.

"The Grand Duelist's Graceful Swordsmanship, Second Form..."

Joseph took a single step and in the very next moment...

"Harmony!"

... his figure blurred as he expressed the harmony of heaven and earth in an instant, sundering air itself as the incomparably sharp divinity of the Grand Duelist within his body wreaked havoc on the bodies of the two elders.

[You dealt 52,981 damage!]

[You dealt 52,981 damage!]

Even the Second Elder who was already injured was torn by the domineering attack. This time, he didn't just stagger. He directly fell onto the ground, unconscious. His condition, unknown.

As for the City Chief...

He was currently holding the wound on his chest as he stared at Joseph in disbelief. 

"You... Just what are you..."

It was clear from his astonishment that this was the first time that he received such a devastating flesh wound.

But Joseph merely scoffed towards this.

Ezreal could deal several hundreds of thousands of damage with just a slap of his palm, are these elders serious? Fifty-thousand health points of damage, that's not even close to what Ezreal could do with his slaps.

Joseph may not know about it for now, but the average Level 100 player may not even have forty-thousand points of Health. Yet, he could deal fifty-thousand points of damage in a single strike. Such a thing was completely unheard of and unbelievable.

But you really couldn't blame Joseph...

Ever since he decided that he'd enjoy the world of Victory, he had always been caught up with the matters of NPCs due to his Class-Specific Quest. In short, he didn't have that much interaction with players. Even at the Festival of Battles, every enemy that he had were all NPCs.

"Fine... We'll admit that we have indeed gone complacent when fighting against you. You also have that strange characteristic of immunity to abnormal statuses. I'll admit that you are indeed strong. But just because you have wounded us like this doesn't mean that you have already won!"

The City Chief shouted in a crazed like manner and he slammed his staff on the ground.

A barely imperceptible shockwave spread out from the staff and everyone affected by the staff kneeled on the ground, which also included Alice whose expression riddled with fear, anxiousness, and apprehension.

Joseph quickly moved.

He had no idea about what the City Chief was about to do, but he felt a bad premonition about it.

An inhibited brilliant light shone at the tip of his Rapier as he roared, "First Form, Point!" 

He stabbed directly at the City Chief's chest, but the wooden, antique-like staff in the City Chief's hands easily blocked the attack. Joseph's entire body vibrated as the tip of his Rapier clashed against the indestructible material that the wooden staff was made off.

[Your attack has failed.]

What the fuck is going on? My Rapier can't go through this piece of wood?

Joseph leaped backwards and didn't think about stopping the City Chief anymore.

He concluded that even if he tried his best on stopping the City Chief, he'll probably fail in the end.

But what was he doing? Where was he going?

Of course, it was towards Alice!

His goal was to release her from the influence of the staff!

But how?

It was by cutting the connection of that staff on Alice's body.

But where was that connection? 

This was the question that Joseph needed to answer in the next few seconds...

Through the use of Dash, he arrived beside Alice.

"Alice, stand up! Fight for the control of your body! I know that you can do it! You're not the disciple of a Legend for nothing! Don't worry, I, your friend will be here for you! I promise"

Joseph tried encouraging Alice and invoking the power of friendships so that she could escape from her predicament, but since this wasn't an anime...

His efforts were to no avail.

"Offer your blood essence!"

The City Chief cried out and he slammed the staff in his hands onto the ground once again. 

A dull thud reverberated in the surroundings. The thud was so dull and soft that it was quickly drowned by the sounds of retching and vomiting in the area. 

Joseph swept his gaze around him and found that the flying residents collapsed like flies.

All of them were currently in the process of vomiting something repulsive from the deep recesses of their bodies.

"Guaaah!"

Joseph heard the same sound beside him and he found Alice, also in the process of vomiting something out from her body.

Fucking hell, blood essence? This bastard is planning on sacrificing everyone in here that is controlled by that strange staff of his so that he could get a power-up? That's such bullshit! Holy shit, has he gone senile?

Joseph violently cursed as he voiced out his grievance yet his eyes never stopped on examining Alice. 

In the end, his eyes caught a barely imperceptible illusory silver threads connecting Alice's body towards the staff that the City Chief held in his hands. 

That's it!

Joseph inwardly exclaimed. He raised his Rapier, but then another elder appeared right in front of him. It was the First Elder who stood beside a flag earlier at the distance.

"It's over, brat... Your friend is about to die since you're too arrogant. If you had obeyed us earlier and peacefully handed over those two sisters to use then this tragedy wouldn't happen..." The First Elder sneered, "Remember, you are the one who caused this tragedy... You are the one that is about to kill all of these people..."

"Yes, because of your arrogance. They will die." 

"Heh, is that so?" Joseph retorted.

His Rapier briefly flashed and it slashed at the space directly above Alice's head. 

Afterwards, without even stopping to check for Alice's condition.

He pointed at the direction of the City Chief and said...

"Divine Authority Summoning..."

A brilliant light appeared out of nowhere and it condensed into a figure that looked eerily similar to Joseph. The only difference was that the avatar had a haughty and prideful look on his face. It was as if nothing could possibly enter his eyes in the entire world. 

"Oh, I'm in this god-forsaken place again..."

Wielding a Rapier that looked like the Rapier of Grandeur and Beauty.

He stared at the direction of the City Chief and said, "A Vampire? Oh, you're that guy back then..."

His nose then twitched, and a disgusted look surfaced on his arrogant visage as he said, "You have the smell of that lesser demon in you, truly repulsive."

He then turned to look at Joseph amidst the astonishment of everyone.

"So, I got summoned by you again? Thankfully, it seems like you are not sending me to fight against these guys. Else, that would be too boring." The avatar scoffed and Joseph couldn't help but inwardly criticized.

That would be too boring? Don't you realize that your stats are basically half of my own stats, right? Fucking hell. But then Joseph suddenly remembered what the avatar had said and he fell into deep contemplation, all the while keeping his guard up and observing the First Elder.

The smell of that lesser demon? As I expected, it seems like the so-called God of Everything that Moves and Exists is actually not a real god. But I didn't expect it to be a demon.

Even though a demon is definitely weaker than a god. I don't think that I can contend against a real demon. I don't have those qualifications, yet.

Acting like a charlatan isn't enough to fight against a demon.

Nevertheless, Joseph was still happy that even though his avatar was arrogant, prideful and complacent. At least, it could still help him in this predicament. That was what Joseph thought until he heard these words from his avatar himself.

"Fighting against these guys would be too boring... that is indeed the truth, but let alone exchanging pointers with them. I won't even able to stay here long enough to talk with them! You are still too weak, my host. Please ascend quickly, so I can finally stay in this place as long as I want..."

The avatar stared at Joseph in disappointment.

What the fuck?

Joseph inwardly cursed. But he suppressed his anger as he said, "Hurry up and do your job! Stop yapping and yapping, that bastard is about to consume the blood essence of the residents here, you know?!"

He pointed at the City Chief who didn't say anything all this while so he could sneakily consume the blood essences while everyone was busy.

"Oh? That? Mkay..." The avatar pointed at the ball of congealing blood essences in the air. It instantly shattered as soon as his finger pointed at it before it scattered in all directions, returning to the bodies of its host.

At that moment, the effect of the staff ended and the residents finally awakened from their trance.

"Eh? What happened?" The residents mumbled to themselves, "Why are we here? Wait, what is going on? What happened to the elders? Why is the Second Elder on the ground? Wait, he's wounded?! Help him!" The residents clamored.

Some of them instantly panicked and some of the children cried out loud in anxiousness.

The normally silent wilderness instantly turned lively.

But that liveliness was instantly shattered by a voice that came out of nowhere.

"Sigh..."

it was a sigh that started with a masculine voice but ended with the voice of a female. 

The avatar's eyes widened in shock, "So that is the reason why I can smell that pungent bastard from you. You are already his vessel! You have consumed his blood!" The avatar shook his head in irritation and resignation. Afterwards, he sighed and turned to look at Joseph's direction.

"Hey, you!"

Joseph who was still astonished by the sigh that he heard awakened from his trance due to his avatar's rude mention of him.

"Now that you are somewhat strong, I'll recognize you as my host. However, that does not mean that you have the qualifications to go against a demon, even if it's only the avatar of the demon..."

"That is why right now, I will give you valuable advice. Take that woman of yours and run away from here as fast as you can!"

Joseph's pupils constricted, he recognized the severity of the avatar's warning just from its serious tone of voice. But escape this place? How could he escape this place without bringing Julie and Hulie with him? He told them that they will someday see the beauty of the outside world.

How could he leave them here?

The avatar who was the perfect splitting image of Joseph thoroughly understood what he was thinking. A light smile escaped on that avatar's lips, but you couldn't feel any hint of mocking in his eyes anymore when he stared at Joseph.

"Since you are that persistent to fight against a Demon, a Devil or whatever you want to call those stinky bastards who probably didn't know about the concept of taking a bath until recently..."

"Let me give you this piece of advice. Since you are the Grand Duelist of the current generation, you can use that divinity of yours as a weapon to def-" 

The avatar's voice was cut short.

But it wasn't because the duration of his stay in this world had ended.

It was because there was a hand sticking out of his chest.

"Heh..."

The avatar coughed a mouthful of blood.

He fell onto his knees and crumbled. As life left his body, he uttered the name of the Demon or the so-called Devil that resides on a castle of bones, the Demon of Deceit and Temptation.

"You really are such a shameless bastard as ever..."

"Gelial."