System Advance: X-factor

System Advance: X-factor

He looked over the bloody scene before him and sighed. So…it had come to this, had it? He was now helpless and alone…just as she said he would be. Now she stood above him, glaring down from her obsidian edifice. The dark tower rose high into the orange fire-fed sky and she sat atop its utmost point, staring down at the blonde leather-clad warrior who dared to challenge her. An evil crooked smile spread across her previously delicate features and all beauty that had been placed on her physique before vanished because of it. This was the one they called “The Annihilator”.

“So…” She cackled. “Did you think I was joking, young hero?”

She flicked her sleek jet black hair behind a pointed ear casually. She was called The Annihilator for good reason. She had p.k.’ed  just about every player on the net and now he faced her…alone.

He gazed down at the corpses of his fallen comrades. Their blood seeped into the dry cracked earth and their weapons glinted in the fire-lit sky. She had taken them on without even so much as effort…and vengeance raced in his veins. He gripped the handle of his halberd that was tucked into a large holster on his back. Her swift movements and blows had led all of them to death. Now it was his turn to return the favor.

“Hmm…” he responded. “ 3y3 h473 7o 4d//17 17, bu7 z33mz L1k j00 do h4v3 7h3 4dv4n74g3.” 

Her eyes widened. What did he say? She looked at him sternly. “Are you mocking me?”

He said nothing and just smirked.

“Oh…I see…” She realized, “you’re one of them.” She smirked back and lifted the nine-tailed whip that she carried above her. She stifled a yawn a fingered the tails of the whip. This was so boring. This player was only a level twenty warrior, where she herself was a level fifty assassin. It was just another waste of her time to kill him. But she couldn’t leave him around. He already knew too much.

“Well, I see you are with that organization now,” she replied. “It would be better for you to just quit the game now so I don’t have to kill you. You’ve already seen what I can do. Just ask your friends.”

The warrior below raised his halberd to her and snarled back. “H34! D0n7 und3r3z71m473 m3! U zh00d |<now b3773r 7h4n 7h47!”

“Stop your pointless jabbering!” She screeched and leapt from her tower toward him at full speed. She was clearly irritated. “Kyaa! Die!” A malicious look came across her face as she sped down, and she smiled at his impending doom.

He did not move. He did not even flinch. He just stood there. The Annihilator sped at him and cracked her whip, its nine tails flailing madly behind her form. She licked her lips as she prepared to smash glass into his head. Her whip flung forward. She recited an incantation and as the magic started to take effect, the whip’s tails began to stretch towards the warrior at an increased velocity and struck down at the ground below. The force caused a huge dust cloud to arise from the desolate scene.

The Annihilator landed on the blood-caked, corpse-ridden earth on all fours and stared at the dust cloud. Heh. What a fool. He hadn’t even moved.
Just then, a flash from the corner of her eye caught her attention. What? A figure leapt into the air from the dust cloud. He was brandishing a large ornate halberd and had blonde hair. No way. How was that possible? The Annihilator never missed a target! He landed opposite her on a pile of corpses and faced the opposite direction.

He just stared off into space.

“You know…” He suddenly spoke (normally, even). “I used to admire you because you were the most powerful gamer here…” He turned around to face her shocked features. “But now I realize… that you aren’t so powerful.”

“What?” She screamed out in rage. “How dare you! What do you mean by that?”
His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. “P3rh4pz 1 zh00d zh0w U…”

He placed his hands together and whispered into them. It was an incantation. What was this warrior up to? The Annihilator looked on in curiosity. Surely one with Warrior status was not one on a Magician status too. Nevertheless, she could sense the magic coming off him…he did posses true magical power, and by the time she tried to move… it was too late.

The bodies underneath her grabbed her shins and pulled her down. The ghastly corpses clutched her tightly. Their knurled fingers dug into her skin as they tugged onto her figure.  Their mouths opened in large O-shapes and screamed out in a hideous fashion….a shrill that sent a chill through her bones. Their wide glazed eyes stared at her with vengeance and in the back of her mind she heard them whisper; ‘Now you shall pay for your crimes, Annihilator.’

Her mind raced and her breathing became erratic as she came to the realization that this might be her end. She could not escape their grasp. There was too many of them!          The corpses bit and slashed out at her. She could feel the end coming….and it was coming slowly….and painfully.  The back of her neck brushed the blood-splattered ground. She screamed out in desperation and horror as she kicked and flailed at these undead creatures.

“Hmm… “ a familiar voice came, and she saw the blonde warrior standing over her. He shouldered his huge halberd. He put his hand to his hip and raised a cocky eyebrow to the once powerful figure that lay before him. “I think you have suffered enough…haven’t you?”

“What are you!” She screamed out infuriated. “You are some kind of magician! That’s what you are! You cheater!”

“You call me the cheater…?” He asked coolly. “Obviously you are greatly mistaken.” With that, he thrust his halberd down and chopped off her head… and so it came to be that a level twenty beat the great Annihilator. His name…X-factor.

Xaviar leaned back in his swivel chair as his friends gathered around his computer and patted his back. Posters and action figures of super-heroes and game characters lined the walls of the ten-year-old’s room.

“Alright!” one of his comrades exclaimed, “The Annihilator has been extinguished from the Realm! How the heck did you pull off that spell, X-Man?”

Xaviar just smiled. “Magicians never reveal their secrets.”

THE END