The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

"Me?" Amelia was shocked, and with good reason. Gilduirn had already told them that he was glad they were there but had never really acknowledged them as being worthwhile.

"Yeah. You're a Chronicler, right? You can write about how we beat the last boss." Gilduirn suddenly got a prideful look on his face. "Don't think we're just stealing you because of your aura. We'll beat it without you, and you can just get experience and skill from being there. It's my gift since you really saved us."

"I think if I go you should let me cast Aura," Amelia said hesitantly.

"No." Gilduirn sighed. "I've got 50 of my best. The guys I started with. If it's just a boss we'll beat it in no time."

"Go ahead," Aidan said over party channel after she had explained.

"Wow. Amelia is going to beat her first world boss." Raven sounded excited.

"Don't be afraid to let them die. If things look bad use them as shields. Run away if you can. If there's lots of magic drop to the ground. It's okay even if they cry for help to leave them." Forsythe sounded less optimistic. "Hey, if they die you should really escape. Just remember even if you don't hate anyone, that doesn't mean you have to like them either."

"Let us know if you need help," Hunter finally added sounding like she had just got done laughing. "We're guildmates now. I won't leave you there."

"Thanks," Amelia said. "I will remember that."

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It wasn't easy to get to the foot of the mountain that overlooked Blutonsi. The first problem was when Gilduirn pulled his members from the line. Members from other areas had to come and fill in when it became apparent that certain areas were only being safeguarded because of the strength of the Ominous membership. Still, once all 50 had been assembled cutting through the visage hadn't been the problem. Speed was the problem, as would soon become apparent. Their absence from the defense of Blutonsi was felt almost immediately. Amelia stopped hearing from her party over the party channel because they were simply too busy fighting to be chatting.

The core of Ominous was impressive in its own right. When Gilduirn pulled his members the first thought Amelia had was that this was the refined, precise, version of the crew that Hunter called her inner circle. These were veteran players who had defeated some of the hardest foes in the game and had walked away cleanly. Games of this genre were all about layer peeling. Sometimes guilds would spend weeks learning bosses defenses and tactics at different health values. These people that now surrounded her as she walked were the finest. They beat bosses by defeating unknown defenses as they arose. The way they dealt with the visage that attacked them was almost superb. The visage that attacked them were cut down easily as if they never had a chance of harming the group.

Gilduirn made it clear from the start that Amelia was an observer, simply there to record the battle, and the group filled in around her like she was precious cargo. She would have really liked to cast Aura on them but never got the chance because Gilduirn repeatedly requested that she didn't. He really wanted to carry her all the way up to the mountain as a testament to the skill and sacrifice of his guild. She didn't disagree with the idea, per se, but she was growing more and more uncomfortable with the idea as they traveled.

They encountered two of the special visage. Humanoids who wielded otherworldly skills and higher levels. They were dealt with efficiently by the group and brought down almost immediately. That should have made Amelia feel better, but it just made her feel worse. It was a lot like the feeling she had before the invasion. One where Gilduirn and his group had been handling everything easily and been almost destroyed when they encountered an unknown.

She didn't have long to think on it though because they were already moving up the mountain at speed. She and the rest of the group had started running because they had stopped encountering enemies. Presumably, the enemies on the field below were the ones that were the major threat, but she still thought it odd that the main boss himself was so unprotected at the top.

The top of the mountain was gigantic. Not in the huge over tall kind of way but the exceptionally sprawling type. They simply crossed a path to a large plateau at the top that was twice again as large as Blutonsi. Near the edge of a rock wall Mourning was watching the progress of the battle. He didn't look like much, on his own, standing with a bladed staff as he surveyed the battle below. He wasn't even very large in comparison to the large monolithic stone statue of a dragon coiled around an area near the edge, hugging a path downward into the continent. Amelia guessed that the dragon in the story was this dragon and the spot he was coiled around was the place where the fourth hero had met her end. He guarded the path to what was once their homeland.

At the guilds arrival, he turned and began his speech. It seemed like opening battle dialog to Amelia, though Gilduirn didn't seem to think it was worth listening to the whole thing and had ordered one of his archers to shoot at Mourning, bringing it to an end immediately. She respected the fact that he wanted to end the battle so his friends didn't die but she would have listened to it.

"Heroes. Is how I would address you." Mourning turned toward them then, starting a second dialogue and not seeming to mind the arrow sticking out of his mantle, and seemed sad. "Will you not relent? This is the unfortunate path carved through time that will provide victory against the calamity known as Void."

"Call off your army." Gilduirn replied confidently. "We might discuss this if you do so."

"Will, you not hear me?" Mourning asked after a pause. "We might not fight should you hear me. You might choose instead the path I have created to save the world."

"You are destroying the world," Gilduirn replied grimly.

"You will not even hear me. Then I will not waste my breath." Mourning sounded fatigued as if the exchange had taxed him even though it had been short. "I take no p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e from your conversion. Rest assured it will save the world."

"Remember Amelia. No spells. You're just watching!" Gilduirn cried out in excitement. He rushed forward, and his shield shone brightly as he activated a tanking spell.

MKC Online's conference room was silent as they watched what transpired next. Abhy at some point started to cry. No one had really believed that AA was going to end, or that they would all have to find new jobs or at least another gaming circuit to follow. No one had believed it until this point. Elias held her while she sobbed into his shoulder. He stared resolutely at the feed coming from Amelia as one after another, in rapid succession, the raid boss that was the Visage Lord Mourning laid waste to Ominous.

It had been easy to believe there was a chance when Gilduirn was winning when they landed on the shore of the Far North Continent. It had been easier to believe there was a chance when Raven had stood triumphantly over her fallen enemy, HP in tatters. Forsythe and Aidan had given people a false sense of hope when they slew visage after visage with no real effort being displayed. The unity of the invasion force that had left Port Laudable and landed near Blutonsi had seemed invincible. There was no way that these people would fail them. That the game would end. Until now.

Gilduirn was killed almost immediately, practically an afterthought. It became apparent that Mourning was some sort of mage, but his level was unavailable with a shocking ??? Instead of flashier magic, he chose to use his bladed staff to end the high profile hero's life. Some sort of spell went off and Gilduirn fell as soon as the bladed staff struck his shield.

Stricken and suddenly demoralized, the rest of Ominous had fallen back and taken a defensive posture. Spell after spell was dodged or had no effect on the Visage Lord as he moved easily into the ranks and dealt melee death to many of the shield tank Transients who had gone along. Disbelief was the look common on most faces when they were pressed upward, spear stabbing them without fail.

"[Shadow Mass Manipulation - Life Lightning.]." Mourning called at one point. It chained on the guild members who failed to recognize the danger, moving down their line, taking almost everybody to half health. Moments later he was among them, stabbing with his staff. The mood was immediately set as all 50 of the raid members under Amelia's watchful gaze fell to death in under 2 minutes. Most of them had not even been killed by magic, as was apparently Mourning's forte. They could not even move him to use his primary killing spells.

Elias stared at the screen resolutely, wondering if he was indeed reporting, broadcasting, and witnessing the last moments of AA Online.