On the other side of the street, a group of players appeared out of nowhere and yelled loudly. Their eyes were looking at Isla with deep animosity.
"We finally found you!" One of the players yelled as they approached her. The rest of the players noticed that and quickly moved out of the way. They seemed to recognize this particular group for some reason.
"Now, what is happening here?" Arthur muttered as he crouched down again and watched carefully as the group surrounded Isla. "Did she get in trouble with some players?"
From what he can see, there was some kind of conflict going on. However, he didn't know what it was.
Although she was completely surrounded, Isla didn't seem that bothered as she stood there, humming quietly.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, bitch!" One of the players yelled with an angry tone. "We want our items back or you're going to regret it greatly!"
'Oh, did she kill them?' Arthur raised an eyebrow. 'That's probably the case. That also explains why they're angry.'
The group looked like a typical, childish, teenage, click with horrible personalities. If Arthur had to take a wild guess, the conflict perhaps happened because they tried to hit on Isla and ended up regretting that decision very badly.
However, Arthur knew that the game had some mechanisms implemented to stop players from doing any heinous crimes toward other players. Anyone who tries to do something without consent from the target will be permanently banned and their name will be registered and sent to law enforcement.
Divinity took the risk of what could happen in the game very seriously since they knew the massive backlash they might get if such a crime occurred inside their game even once.
"Are you sure about this?" Finally opening her eyes, Isla asked.
"Don't think what happened the first time will happen again. We're far stronger now! We'll make you regret ever doing that!"
Isla calmly stared at the group as if she hadn't heard any of their threats before she sighed and turned away. "Ok, follow me."
Then, she started walking out of the village into the forest. The group was stunned for a moment as if they didn't expect this reaction. After all, they were now clearly outnumbering her, and weren't as reckless as when they first tried to attack her.
"What should we do?"
"We need to get her, of course! I can't wait to see that fucking fear in her eyes!"
It didn't take them long to decide on what to do as they quickly rushed after her. Their desire to get revenge was simply blinding their eyes.
Isla walked casually as if she wasn't in a rush as she was followed by the players. Weirdly enough, her back was fully open and they could easily attack her whenever they wanted. But, none of them did, and they didn't know why.
It was clearly the perfect time to attack her yet their hearts and minds were telling them not to do that or they would regret it heavily. That feeling naturally hurt their pride as it can only be described as fear.
That situation continued till they were far away from the village. All noise quietened down as the sound of the gushing wind and the occasional animal noises took over instead. That was when Isla finally stopped and turned to face the group.
"Let's hurry, I have an appointment." She said as lifted her hand up only for a sword to manifest in her palm. The sword was a magnificent purple in colour with a mix of black in it that made it look almost ominous or evil. Its design was also sleek, complimenting its light yet robust nature.
Putting it to the side, she unsheathed the sword slowly before pointing it at her targets with a cold expression. "Who's first?"
The players' faces slowly turned pale as they felt a crushing aura being exuded from Isla. Their hearts skipped a beat. Deep down, they felt like they weren't the ones who had the advantage; instead, they felt like they were simply victims who fell into a trap and would never escape from it.
"Get your weapons, idiots!" The first to snap out of it quickly alerted the rest of them. As horrified as they were, they still swallowed it down and quickly spread out.
The tension immediately rose in the air as the two sides eyed one another. Then, in one moment, all the players attacked her at the same time.
"GET HER!!"
"YOU'RE DONE!!"
Their loud yells echoed in the entire forest as they swarmed Isla from all directions like rabid monsters. Some were using swords while others carried hammers, axes, or bows. However, even in such a clearly bad situation, Isla didn't seem bothered at all.
Instead, she simply moved her sword down and slowly stabbed it into the ground. Then, she put both hands on the handle as she bent down a little. Her beautiful lips opened slightly as she muttered two words.
"Devourer of Worlds."
The moment she uttered those words, the sword suddenly lit up with a bright purple light. That light quickly grew in size, taking over the area around it including Isla. But, like a gluttonous monster, it didn't stop growing, quickly expanding meters away from the sword itself.
In a quick second, it engulfed the other players before they could even escape or react. Then, when it reached a certain limit, it stopped and along with it, things went quiet for a split moment before chaos erupted.
Isla pushed the sword deeper into the ground and clenched her fists around it even tighter. That seemed to have triggered a reaction from the light as it suddenly retracted back toward her at an extremely rapid pace. Along with it, it pulled all the players, the grass, and even the leaves that were in that domain.
"WOAAAH!!"
"What is happening?!"
"Grab into something!!"
All the players fell to the ground as they were dragged toward Isla like ragdolls. Nobody can fight this sudden insane gravitational power. It was like a raging current was pulling them in non-stop.
Some tried to dig their hands into the ground, but they were peeled off with ease and dragged into the mud. Eventually, they all ended up piling around Isla with their bodies tattered. The damage this attack had dealt was brutal, almost killing all of them in one shot.
However, they were still alive somehow. That was when Isla finally pulled the sword out of the ground and exhaled a small breath. Her eyes were as calm and as cold as a beautiful clear lake, reflecting the light around them.
"W-What happened?"
"She didn't… use that… before…"
As they struggled to even stand back up, Isla lifted her sword and stabbed the nearest one in the back. Then, she quickly moved from one to another, killing them swiftly.
"Please, spare us!!"
"I'm sorry!! I didn't want to do this!"
"Help!!"
Quickly, their cries turned into pleas and begging for Isla to spare them. The entire fight ended before it could even start. They couldn't even swing their weapons at her and she had already defeated all of them. It was a nightmare.
Isla looked at them coldly before she continued killing them one by one as if they were a bunch of flies. She didn't care about their pleas. In a few seconds, all the players died and their bodies vanished. Pulling her sword out of the last target, she swung it to the side to get rid of the blood and then sheathed it again.
"Sigh…" She exhaled a small breath as she looked up. "Did you enjoy the show?" She asked as if she was talking to someone. However, her eyes weren't looking at anyone. A few seconds passed like that before a voice replied.
"You're strong."
Isla's face relaxed a little as she turned around, only to see Arthur standing there with a complicated expression on his face.
"I will take that as a compliment." She said.
The boy shifted his gaze from Isla to the spots where the players had died before he shook his head. "They should've known better. I was intending to give you a helping hand if I saw that you couldn't handle them. But, I guess I was mistaken."
"I don't particularly ask for help when I'm squashing some ants."
"Fair enough." Arthur shrugged as he walked toward her. "So, here I am. Right on time too." He said as he looked at the time in the settings. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"
"It's very simple really so I will keep it short," Isla said. "I want you to join me, Arthur."
A//N: Don't forget to support the book before moving on!