"Goddammit, Graves, wait!!!" Ignis called out as Graves attacked the other beta testers.

  The fireball impacted the healer, sending him tumbling backwards. Things had been going so well. They had taken a detour to level off some more goblins before coming to the settlement, and then Graves ran off half-cocked.

  "Dammit, no-kill notification." Graves cursed, lining up a second shot as his zombies moved forward.

  Ignis grabbed his scythe and slammed it into the ground.

  "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ignis roared.

  "Winning," Graves replied cheekily. How much better off will we be if we have two settlements?"

  "Yeah, except this isn't the game anymore, you idiot," Ignis said.

  "So," Graves said with a shrug.

  "So we don't respawn now. Do you think those guys won't come after us? On top of that, guns are a thing now. What did you get a bulletproof skill and didn't tell me?" Ignis asked. You just made us the bad guys. What do you think is going to happen next?"

  ROOOOOOOAAAAARRRR

  "Great, now we're up shit creek," Ignis cursed as his eyes were forcibly dragged towards the biggest lizard man he had ever seen as the thing vaulted out of the parking lot charging right at them.

  "Newt, kill it!!" Graves ordered

  The large undead Graves had created from the orc corpse charged the lizard man.

  "You called it newt?" Ignis asked as the lizard man's fist glowed with [power strike].

  "I can name my ---." Graves was cut off as the lizard man drove Newt into the asphalt with a single [Power Strike]- infused punch, leaving cracks in the road as Newt died.

  "Fuck!!" Ignis swore as he launched a fireball at the lizard man.

  "YOU!!!" The lizard man roared as he ducked the fireball and activated the [Charge] skill, shooting towards Ignis with impressive speed.

  "Graves, if we survive this, I am going to kill you!!" Ignis swore as he turned into his fire form.

  The lizard man's fist impacted his chest as expected, but instead of going through his intangible body like he was expecting. Ignis was sent flying backwards as pain erupted from his entire being. He crashed into a car, flashing back to flesh; his entire body was covered in cracks as if he were made of glass, and they went deep. Organs had been ruptured, and bones split apart.

  He vomited up more blood than he thought was healthy before he flashed to flame and back again. His injuries were gone, but his hp bar had dipped to around half with that one attack.

  "What the fuck?!" Ignis spat blood again as he activated [Body of the Fire God].

  His body immediately started to heal the lost health, but he didn't have time to rejoice, as the lizard man was already on him again. He rolled to the left as the lizard smashed a hole through the car door with his bare hands.

  "[Pugilist], or maybe [Spirit Warrior]?" Ignis wondered aloud as he unfurled his wings and tried to take off to put some distance between him and the lizard man.

  The lizard man ripped the car door off the car and threw it at him. Ignis dodged it with ease and then fell to the ground as the car door sliced through his wing of fire.

  "Shit!!"

  Ignis tumbled to the ground as he tried and failed to recreate the wing with magic. He slammed into the ground with a meaty thump. He tried to get up, only to be kicked away. As he was sent tumbling backwards, he felt a section of his [Body of the Fire God] shut down with the impact.

  "So that's it," Ignis spat. "You have [Siegebreaker], dammit Graves. I'm fucking screwed."

  The lizard man didn't answer, a red aura of the rage skill having already overtaken him. Ignis cursed as he realized he wouldn't be able to escape this fight. His wings would take time to fix themselves. His [Living Flame] and [Flash Fire] skills had just become liabilities against this target, and the lizard man was fast enough to close the distance with him, so long-range was out of the question. That just left close quarters.

  "What's that old saying? If you can't go around a problem, you've got to go through it!" Ignis said as [Scorched Fists] came alive.

  He dodged one of the massive lizardman's fists as he dived in closer, slipping between the big reptile's clumsy blows. Ignis unleashed a wave of flame, blinding the lizardman before sinking a flaming dagger into his chest.

  Rather than dodge, the lizardman followed through with his attack, punching Ignis with enough force that Ignis felt his bones threaten to break under the force. But it was still better than the hit he had suffered in his elemental form.

  Ignis dodged the next attack as he vaulted backward. With his back bent like he was trying to win the world championship of limbo, he pushed off the ground with his hand and landed a solid kick on the Lizard man's face.

  The Lizard Man barely reacted to his attacks, but it gave him room to breathe as the lizard continued to lash out at him. He bit his lip as he realized the lizard's man wounds were healing at a near-visible rate. His own healing was fast, but it was dependent on his mana. He suspected the lizard's man's healing was based on a bloodline and wouldn't stop until he was dead.

  Focusing his mana on his hands, Ignis leapt forward to meet the Lizardman with all his strength. The two of them started to savage each other. Blow by blow, they chipped away at each other's health as they blocked, parried, and clipped each other with every exchange.

  Ignis felt sweat pouring down his face as he danced around the lizard man's wild swings, barely managing to stay ahead in the fight. Despite how close he was to death, he felt strangely calm. This was something he had done a thousand times before in Noralon, and that gave him some strange comfort as he started to refine his technique. His stance improved, his motions became cleaner, the cinders flying around his hands coalesced into claws, and the temperature of his new claws started to rise until his hands turned into incandescent claws of burning fire.

  DING!!!

  Ignis felt a wave of relief wash over him as his body surged in strength. He lashed outwards, his incandescent claws scoring a mark on the lizard man's scaley hide. The fight wasn't guaranteed. In fact, this fight had been a tightrope from the start, with no guarantee of victory, even if he didn't fuck up. It was going to be close.

  As the fight entered its final stage, Ignis gave up any pretense of fighting conservatively. He gave up all defense and unleashed every fire magic spell upon the lizard man he could. He punched, kicked, and slashed away at the other player as his own HP plummeted.

  Then the lizard man stumbled, and Ignis lept forwards, shoving his clawed hand directly into the lizard's chest and piercing his heart. The lizard man spat out blood as the light died from his eyes.

  "I won," Ignis panted as he ripped out the lizard man's heart and stood there half-dead, his head held up in victory. "Holy shit. That was close. I am so fucking lucky."

  Ignis roared his victory to heaven as he stood among the burning houses of what had once been a normal neighborhood. He was never going back to what he was. He would be ---

  "No," Ignis muttered, his exhaustion hitting him hard. His body was too tired to move.

  As the lizard man's body was consumed by light, he was back up on his feet.

  "Yes," Abaddon said, no trace of the rage in his voice as he rose up again, his injuries gone.

  "Since you got a skill upgrade from that fight, I think I deserve one as well," Abaddon said with a cruel reptilian smile.

  Ignis watched as the lizard man drew back his fist. His hand first turned red, then darkened, going from red to purple. Ignis didn't even bother to try to dodge. He knew he didn't have the reserves for more than a paltry effort.

  "[Giga Impact]," Abaddon said before his fist impacted Ignis directly into his chest.

  Ignis's rib cage shattered under the impact, and his organs ruptured as Abaddon activated a skill that increased his strength by at least 25% for one attack.

  Ignis's shattered body was sent flying backwards fast enough that when he impacted a car, what was left of his spine shattered from the impact. Then he flipped over the car and smashed into the house behind it. For a long moment, as the last of Ignis's HP drained from his body, he was in utter agony.

  BOOOM

  Then, the pain was washed away, and Ignis was reborn in fire.

  Ignis rose from the ashes of his body, a massive, beautiful, majestic phoenix almost two stories tall. His body was made of fire; burning cinders floated off it, and his eyes were sapphires as he stared down at Abaddon.

  For a long moment, they both just stood there. Then, at once, they both moved. Abaddon lept at him, his hands outstretched, as Ignis turned and shot away from the battlefield as fast as he could.

  He had no delusions about beating Abaddon now. While they had been mostly equal before, that wasn't the case now. His body was primarily that of an elemental, and while that normally meant he could ignore physical attacks, the [Siegebreaker] skill not only negated that effect but also meant that all of Abaddon's physical attacks would now devastate his new body. Yeah, this was not a fight he could win, and he suspected they were both fully aware of the fact.

  Ignis flew towards Graves at max speed as Abaddon chased him. His friend was not doing well; the undead they had brought had been cut to pieces. Graves himself was facing down the Squirrel Beast Kin. The Bimbo Witch and the normies had already cut down the undead army they had brought. Another reason this was stupid: in another minute, they would have been able to focus all their attention on Graves.

  Realizing a deafening screech, Ignis dived, scooping up his friend before immediately gaining affection. A spell shot after him, impacting his phoenix form as he retreated.

  "What the hell are you doing?!" Graves shouted at him as he flew away.

  "That's my question," Ignis hissed in his bird form as they flew west. Until we get back, you're going to explain to me in detail why you thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with the other beta-tester, considering our current situation. And you better make it good?" Ignis squawked.

  "I was trying to expand our kingdom, Eric, and I might have succeeded if you had not pulled me out."

  "I would be dead by now if we didn't retreat. You weren't far behind." Ignis shot back.

  You may skip to the next chapter.

  Base

  Personal: +4 WILL, +4 SPIRIT, +3 INT, +3 PER

  Racial: +3 SPIRIT +2 AGIL +2 CON +1 EGO

  Bloodline: +5 CON +5 SPIRIT

  Mini-Character List

  Ignis: Half-orc Pyromancer who is 14

  Graves: The necromancer who is developing a taste for blood

  Abaddon: The pissed-off Lizard-man

  AN: