A lot of things happened at once.

  First, they were completely engulfed in blackness, and Matheus felt Sophie’s fist connecting with his face. Matheus still couldn’t see anything, but he knew he was bleeding by the metallic taste he felt on his mouth.

  When the darkness finally dissipated, Sophie was running to her bow and they were completely surrounded.

  A swarm of the bat scorpion creatures had come and were circling above their heads. They were all shrieking in a high-pitched, piercing voice. The combined sound was almost unbearable.

  One of the creatures dove to him, and Matheus rolled under it, slashing upward. His blade found its mark, tearing through the thin membrane of the monster's wing.

  He saw as one bat lunged towards Rick’s direction and he slapped it away, throwing it against another one.

  At his level, he only had enough mana to activate the sword effect once. Which meant, now he only had his slaps to protect himself. Not a great weapon against flying monsters.

  Sophie got to her bow and prepared to shoot, but two bats started attacking her, not giving her a chance. Luckily the creatures were attacking indiscriminately.

  Matheus ducked while another attacked, barely avoiding the lashing tail that struck sparks from the stone. He had no time to get distracted.

  He noticed another coming in his direction, but Captain appeared out of nowhere and threw himself at a bat as it flew, taking it to the ground. Captain scratched viciously at it, then in no time he was up again and jumping to the next monster.

  “Dark nimbus,” he said, conjuring a cloud above a bat and disrupting its flight. It went straight into another creature, and they both hit the ground hard. Rick didn’t waste time and started slapping frantically before they could fly away.

  This was bad. Everything was pure chaos. Before they could finish one enemy, two others were attacking. The only good part was that Sophie was also busy dealing with them, and didn’t have an opening to shoot arrows at them. But the longer the fight lasted more Sophie would have the advantage.

  Out of nowhere he tripped on air, stumbling directly into a bat. The creature grabbed him and went flying, taking him with it.

  They flew erratically, as he desperately tried to stab at it to let him go. After some struggle he finally succeeded, managing a clean cut at the beast’s neck.

  It released him, and only then Matheus realized what an idiot he was.

  He plummeted to the ground, the wind roaring past him as he dropped.

  “Fuuuuuuuck,” he screamed, not sure what to do.

  In the end, he didn’t have to do anything as he hit another of the bats passing just below him, which had probably saved his life.

  They crashed, Matheus on top of it.

  Parkour has reached level 4!

  “Oh, for forks sake,” he complained, getting up. The monster he had fallen into lay dead, its body broken.

  There was no time for him to rest.

  With despair, he watched as Captain was launched to the ground, hitting hard. He stayed there, unmoving.

  “No,” Matheus screamed, seeing three of the monsters lunging towards his defenseless familiar.

  Before they could get to Captain, Rick threw himself on top of him, protecting the cat with his body.

  The bats circled him and started stinging, while he laid there using his body as a shield.

  Matheus lunged at the bats, stabbing the nearest and unleashing his electricity. The current went from one monster to another, taking them all to the ground.

  He kept stabbing, cutting one neck then another, ripping wings apart and slicing parts off. He only stopped when there was nothing but limbs and corpses laying around him.

  Breathing heavily, he turned to help Rick only to duck as an arrow passed centimeters from his head.

  Sophie stood with her bow, three dead bats beside her. She waved at him.

  With renewed fury, Maheus grabbed the sword Rick dropped and ran towards Sophie, bellowing a war cry. She raised her bow and got ready for him.

  Before she could shoot, he threw the blade as hard as he could in her direction. Fortunately, his curse didn’t consider throwing a legendary item at someone as wielding it, and the system didn’t stop him.

  The sword flew awkwardly, spinning like a boomerang. Sophie managed to duck but reacted slowly, not expecting it.

  Instead of slashing, Matheus let himself slam into her, counting on his extra strength. The impact was enough to take her from her feet, sending her flying.

  She dropped her bow, and Matheus threw a bubble ball at it, launching it far away.

  She got up already with a dagger in her hands, and lunged at him.

  They met blade with blade, both trying to get the upper hand. Sophie opened a nasty gash on his left arm, making him cry in pain.

  He couldn’t let the fight take any longer. He needed to end it now.

  Matheus fainted, and when Sophie tried to cut his eye out he ducked under her arm, spinning and letting his knife guide him.

  With a swift stroke, he slashed at her throat, slitting it open.

  Sophie fell on her knees, hand pressing against the blood.

  Matheus watched in shock. He retreated a step and let his knife fall to the ground.

  “Rick,” he said, and went running to his allies.

  Rick lay there, unconscious, Captain laying beside him. His ally was covered in wounds and bleeding profusely.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  But alive. They were both alive, with their life on the red.

  Rick was at his last HP point.

  Matheus quickly grabbed his last elixir from his inventory and poured it into Rick’s mouth. He wasn’t sure it would work, but soon his worries vanished when he saw his life recovering.

  Thank Gods he still had one of those. He would make sure to stock a dozen of them when he had the chance.

  He turned, to see Sophie drinking an elixir of her own, and watched as her wound closed before his eyes.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, cursing himself. How could he have been so careless? Not properly finishing an enemy had been the very first mistake he’d made. Of course Sophie had some way to heal herself. She had even admitted to him before.

  And he had even let him knife laying there, just beside her.

  How could he be so stupid?

  He started walking in her direction, trying to think of what to do. Damn, he was feeling tired. Now that he had let his body relax, all the adrenaline had left him.

  “You are a fool, you know it?” she said with a hoarse voice, picking his knife from the ground.

  “I’ve been called worse,” Matheus answered with a shrug.

  “We are in an impossible contest,” she kept going, shaking her head. “But you keep refusing to accept reality. You still don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what?” he asked, standing just a few meters in front of her.

  Matheus was alone, unarmed and completely drained of mana. He was stronger, but she was faster and had his knife.

  He had no idea what to do.

  Suddenly, a mirror appeared on her left hand, making Matheus retreat a step.

  Sophie smirked.

  “You remember the mirror of the worthy, right? It has been with me since the beginning. In some ways, it has been my own curse.”

  “What?” he asked, then flinched when Sophie furiously threw it on the ground. It bounced a few times and stayed there, standing in the middle of them. Curiously, the glass didn’t break.

  “Do you have any idea how many times I've looked at it, watching those great champions and their fantastical deeds? Every single day I watched beings so strong, I wouldn’t even know how to start describing it,” she kept going, and he decided to let her talk.

  “Ask me how many times I saw another human,” she almost spat at him.

  “None. Not a single one. Then, I finally understood. There will never be a human there. We aren’t really competing here. We are just filling the gaps, adding a little more diversity to the game. Not everyone can get the best champions, right? We are what you get with an unlucky roll of the dice. The option no one wants. The one no one would choose.”

  “We are the losers,” she completed, staring straight at him, and Matheus could swear he saw her eyes trembling.

  “Sophie…” Matheus started, but he wasn’t sure what to say. Suddenly things started making a little more sense. The mirror was the reason she had been willing to go so far.

  All this time, she must have felt completely alone. She wasn’t evil, she was only a scared girl.

  “I tried to stay motivated. Every day, I would hunt, train, and feel myself getting stronger. But it was not enough. It never compared to what other champions were doing. I didn’t let it get to me at first. But every day, the distance seemed to go larger, never the opposite,” she said, her voice filled with pain. “I started to despair. My motivation slipped away little by little. Then I noticed you.”

  Again, he wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “I noticed something was weird about you from the start, so I kept my eyes open. I watched you for some days, keeping my distance. Soon I knew. You were another champion.”

  “I started hoping. Maybe together we could go further. But even that was denied to us. And then it clicked.” She gave him the saddest smile he’d ever seen. “There was only one way. We need to stop being humans in order to win.”

  “You are wrong,” he said, shaking his head. “People have been telling me I’m a failure for as long as I can remember. So, we are the losers. Do you really think that changes anything to me? Did you forget what I am called? I’ve always known what I am. I understand what my odds are, and I have no illusions on where I stand.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I don’t give a fuck what other people think I can or can’t do. I will still win,” he said, holding her gaze.”

  Her face turned cold as stone. “Admit it, you are done. I tried to be your ally, I really did, but you refused to understand. You keep choosing to not see it, and I can’t have you holding me back. I will do what’s necessary to win.”

  The moment she finished speaking she ran towards him, and Matheus did the same.

  She thrusted at his face just as Matheus got one of the heads from his inventory and blocked it.

  “I’m sorry!” he said while he hugged her.

  “What are you doing?”

  His arms folded around her, and he started pressing as hard as he could. She tried to get away, but couldn’t, eyes widening as she realized his intention.

  “Stop! Matheus, please stop!” she let out a sharp gasp, his strength slowly overcoming her body.

  “I’m sorry!” he yelled back at her, still pressing.

  He felt something piercing his flesh and knew Sophie had stabbed him, but he didn’t let go. She wouldn’t kill him in time.

  He heard her bones breaking under his arms, and yet he pressed harder.

  Death hug has reached level 4!

  Death hug has reached level 5!

  Skull collector has reached level 5!

  After she stopped moving, Matheus still didn’t let go of her body.

  Instead, he kept hugging her, this time gently, and cried.