The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro knew Felix was right, if they did this, Chasing Madness wouldn't have their own legs to stand on. They'd be too reliant on After Dark. Kiro though had a soft spot for them, he didn't want to be a crutch for them, he wanted to see the once great guild again. A giant amongst giants.

Besides, after they help a nameless guild to win, business would not be so scarce. People will come running and they'll have the list they pretended to have, to choose who they should work for.

"About the payment, I'll wire you guys 1 million coins and the bonus of 3 million after you help us win, with the exception that, you get no spoils in this war."

Kiro thought about it for a second, guilds that won were always given preferential treatment, but them being guardians, it wasn't as if they needed to be coddled by the system more.

"Deal!"

Ding!

[Are you sure you want After Dark to ally with Chasing Madness in this month's guild wars?]

Kiro clicked yes immediately and forfeited rewards given should they win. He didn't mind much, they weren't a guild after all.

They were now all adorned in new armour, ranging from rare to legendary. Their weapons too. They were ready for this war, at least After Dark was. Most of the members of Chasing Madness didn't quite understand the gravity of the situation.

Asgard didn't really have seasonal weather, that's why it was snowing and a bit sunny at the same time. The mods must've wanted a bloodstained ground.

It was also a good thing that Kiro and his mates were immune to the coldness. Chasing Madness, not so much. There were a few who contended with the cold including their guild master and his vice, so Hiro had custom made them armours that would work well in extreme weather conditions.

With the amount of things they equipped, they felt guilty that it was all free. They felt heavily overgeared, they felt thankful to have come here. Jorge promised himself then that, no matter how this turns out, he'll always maintain a high level of friendship with these guys.

They were just in their feelings when the system message sounded. Silence fell upon the grounds.

Ding!

[World Announcement: guild wars will start in 1 minute. Players who don't log in within these seconds will be disqualified, their guilds will have to do without them this time...]

There was chaos in the game, as players scrambled to get in touch with their teammates. But they had a rude awakening when they realised that the game was locked, nobody would be able to logout until the end of the wars.

[The game will be locked. They say the early bird catches the worm, they'll learn to be earlier next time. Yes this wasn't announced, purposely. Along with how the wars will be conducted.

The first trial will be survival. Players of every guild will be transported to the big forest, the South of here, also known as Tartarus. Don't be alarmed, it's only a tiny bit dangerous.

You won't only have to fight each other but the monsters that roam in the depths of that forest. If you don't fight each other, remember this, you will only be making things harder for yourselves in the next stages. The less guilds make it, the better it will be for you.

Your goal is to eliminate as many players as possible, gathering their keepsakes and monster cores. Walk through the forest and make it to the other side.

Eliminated players, either by fatal injury or death will be transported to the arena everyone here will walk through Tartarus to get there. How the next stage will be conducted will be announced then, happy hunting.]

They hadn't even gathered their thoughts when a bright yellow light engulfed and stole them where they stood. The next second they opened their eyes, a greenery scene was in every direction.

The ground was slightly littered with snow. The forest was eerily dead, silence that they couldn't even hear any wind blowing yet the tree leaves blew through the sky.

"This feels dangerous already." Kade commented, one of Chasing Madness' archer.

He wasn't wrong, even Kiro felt nervous about this. Through his vibrations, he only sensed fear and death. He wondered what monsters roamed in here, while this was the exact replica of the first stage from his previous life, he'd never heard of Tartarus.

It hadn't even been a second that they got there and Kiro threw Ryu into the distant trees. Nikolai was grateful for the trees and sun, as that meant he could travel the forest using them.

Sure enough, he was right behind Ryu with his two weapons already out. Ishaan had his shield covering the rest.

They sensed the ambush before it festered into something dangerous. They acted without even consulting each other, that's how used to each other they were.

Ryu pierced through countless players, Kiro and Nikolai were right behind him.

Nikolai used his blades to slit throats, blood splattered everywhere staining the pristine white ground.

Kiro was envious of Nikolai, his killing style seemed to not be too much of a hassle. He was also drawn to the blood.

It only took him one hit to kill these players, their bones would shatter the moment his attack reached them, and they would cry in agony for a few seconds before a red light stole them, apparently transporting them to the arena.

When the guild realised that they had messed with the wrong people, they used devious ways to run away from the scene.

"Should I give chase?" Nikolai asked.

"No need. If the monsters don't eat them first other players will. We've managed to seriously cut down their numbers."

Ryu came spinning from above, Kiro caught him with one hand. Took out his little cloth and started cleaning the blood off him like he didn't just kill people. It didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Th-that was amazing!" Lyle managed to say.

His entire guild looked at the spectacle that just transpired with a mix of fear, admiration and elation.