Fate's Reversal: The Divines Return

A loud booming voice sounded after Kaiden chuckled.

"And who are you calling insignificant annoyances?"

Before Kaiden, a party of at least 30 people approached with 5 figures leading at the front. The one in the front seemed to be a middle-aged man with a haughty attitude. Being deemed insignificant seemed to irk him very much so.

"If there is no else in our vicinity, use your minuscule brain to comprehend who my words are directed at." fired back Kaiden in a brusque fashion.

"Watch your words! How dare you talk to me like that?"

"Why would I watch my words with an unknown person. More so, even if you were known, I wouldn't give a f.u.c.k who you are. Try again."

Fuming, a vein began pulsing in the middle-aged man's forehead as he shot a furious gaze at Kaiden. "I am the Guild Leader of the Earth-grade Guild Sunset Triad—Horizon Break! How dare you?!"

"Oh so like I said...trash, an unknown buffoon. Additionally, I wasn't asking you to introduce yourself. As I said before, once I was confronted. I couldn't care less who you are."

"Young lad! Watch your words and show me respect!."

Turning towards Snow Bunny, Kaiden asked. "Is he an idiot?"

Startled for a moment, Snow Bunny gazed at Kaiden then nodded. "I think so, couldn't be explained otherwise."

However, inside Snow Bunny was slightly taken aback. 'Where is this confidence coming from?'

"I think you're an idiot. You demand respect while prohibiting entrance? Are you retarded? There now remains two ways this can go down..."

Crossing his eye, Kaiden's aura leaked as his stats were kind of ridiculous. "Either you move aside or I make you move aside. Your choice."

Stepping forth another one spoke and from the tone, they sounded like a female or a feminine man. "Eh?! You dare talk to the guild leader in such a way? Hmph, Guild Leader I will deal with him myself."

"Oh? It seems the Guild Leader's personal toy is stepping forth to defend his honor." chuckled Kaiden as he was more than amused by this situation. Miraculously, his statement made Snow Bunny giggle slightly.

"Y-yooou!!" seeing red, the lady charged forth with long lance in her hand. Her class was clearly a female lancer. Additionally, she was an Lv.43 female Ligerman Lancer named Fierce Kitty.

Standing in the same spot, Kaiden didn't move an inch. He was currently waiting and being blinded by this, the other didn't notice Kaiden's intentions.

Using a skill to pierce Kaiden, Fierce Kitty was appalled by the low damage.

(-72)

[System: You have been targeted by another user in a party. The whole party has been listed as Hostile. There will be no consequences for retaliation against those members.]

[System: Player Kill - Defender System Activated. This system shall remain active until the death of the members on the opposing side.]

Instantly the names of the 30 members turned a crimson color as Kaiden eye's glinted with a wicked intention. Because the 30 members were now listed as Hostile users not only would the consequence of dying increase two-fold. If they died while red named. If they chose to be resurrected in a town shrine, they would be confined to a town for 2 hours as well as sacrifice 2 extra levels.

The consequence of dying to a monster paled in comparison to player killing. This just went to show that the developer didn't really support PK. Though they were introducing features that promoted competition—they promoted healthy competition.

Needless killing between users was slightly frowned upon. That wasn't healthy competition, that was simply tyranny. With that being said, the consequence of PK was set on two different sides.

The attacker would have increased penalties. If they were killed there was an increased chance to drop items in their inventory and equipment based on their killer's Luck stat. Moreover, instead of losing 1 level on their first death, they would lose 2. Following their first death, the penalties would return to normal.

The defender's death penalties remained the same as a death from a monster.

When it came to resurrection, there were always 2 options—one, to resurrect on the spot with the 'Weakened' reduced stats penalty. Second, revive in town at a shrine for double the cost of levels. However, there was a catch. Following your third death, you were automatically forced to resurrect at a shrine. In short, if you died in this fashion you could lose between 4-5 levels maximum.

"I got this, don't get involved." instructed Kaiden. Before Snow Bunny could reply, brandishing his two swords, Kaiden dashed forward.

Executing Double Slash Kaiden was also momentarily shocked by his damage.

-541 [-135] , -542 [-135]

Only when he read the full description of the PK system did he understand what was going on. The stats on his page were against monsters and the PK system diluted the stats to a more normal baseline. This was due to the fact that users possessed stats completely different from a monster.

Even with his ridiculous stats Kaiden only had over 15k Health while monsters had over the hundred thousands. With that being said, attack power and defense were regulated to 5% of the actual value against monsters. As a result, Kaiden's over 5,000 Attack Power dropped to under 260.

Because of this, defense came more into play. This was a reason why when it came to PK, corrupted players would steer clear of tank type classes. They were the most difficult to deal with at the moment where the ignore defense ability was sparse.

'I see, then this just serves as live practice and nothing more.'

Gripping his blade, Kaiden produced a flurry of sword lights as he swung his arms. This was the fruit of his previous leveling session.

[4th Tempest Style - Brewing Storm's Destruction] (Special Active). Lv.1/10. Swinging your sword 7 times in a precise manner that causes compound effects—cause destruction like no other. The first strike starts at normal attack speed dealing 160% damage. However, each successive strike's attack speed increases by 10% and damage increases by 30%.

Cooldown: 7 minutes. Skill Proficiency: (0/1,000) Requirement: Sword, 350 Agility.

The opposing group became appalled, even though they were untouched by the attacks—they received damage—courtesy of the Angurvadal's special effect. Additionally, because of his damage being over quadruple Fierce Kitty while being 3 levels lower—they became weary of his original attack power.

"Hmph, if he's alone then we will simply rely on numbers to counteract his combat ability. Everyone attack!" scoffed Horizon Break.

However, how can 30 cubs compare to a m.a.t.u.r.e lion? Does an apex predator cower in the face of 30 of it's small delicious prey? No. As a result, Kaiden simply smirked. He had been practicing since some time on a multitude of monsters at any given time. Granted, they weren't humans who could coordinate their blows; however, Kaiden wasn't some rookie either.

He understood certain rotations of his skills that could limit the cooperation between teammates. With that being said, Kaiden dashed forward using an additional 50 points of Sword Force.

Executing Twin Tornado Drill, 2 larger than normal sword gales shot forward. As the opposing team was relatively bunched together, the Twin Tornado Drills created a clearing in the party. Those who were hit, felt as if a sledgehammer impacted their ribs and were sent flying or staggering back depending on their Strength value.

-1,448 [-508] , -1450 [-508]

Even though his Attack Power was heavily nerfed to under 260. Because of the presence of his modifiers, Kaiden was still able to deal ungodly amounts of damage relative to the health of the users.

"KEUGH...The f.u.c.k!? What the hell did he just use?" exclaimed Fierce Kitty as she gripped her stomach, heaving slightly.

"As I said before, we could have done this the easy way. Now perish."

Pooling an additional 100 points into sword Force, Kaiden waved Angurvadal once again—executing Illusive Sword Torrent. However, although he meant to kill everyone, tanks activated their damage reduction skills and 2 assassins went Stealth.

Luckily, Stealth had a short period—0.9 seconds to be exact of invincibility upon activation. As for the tank's damage reduction skills, at this point every one should possess a skill that reduced damage received by at least 60%. Unfortunately, the damaging classes that lacked utility suffered.

-14,000 [-4,900]

Besides those tanks and assassins, every single person in this party succ.u.mbed to the mind-boggling damage Kaiden dealt. Despite their efforts to mitigate the damage, they ended with one conclusion—death. Even the consumption of Health potions couldn't counteract the immediate decrease of health.

"You guys there, you are just prolonging the inevitable. Might as well cancel your life saving skills and let me kill you quickly or suffer humiliation instead… Your choice." said Kaiden as he began charging Angurvadal with Sword Force.

"..." No answers replied. Only silence.

"Suit yourself." shrugged Kaiden.

Sacrificing 600 points of Inner Energy, the Sword Force coating Angurvadal became potent—so much so it seemed solid. Brandishing his sword, Kaiden executed Sword Wave - Dispersion which dealt o.b.s.c.e.n.e amounts of damage. As a result, even with the use of their reduction skills, the party was now completely annihilated.

[System: The assailant party has been defeated. The Defender system is now deactivated. Further killing will result in the appearance of a red name. Intensity will be determined by Kill Count.]

Returning his blades to his inventory, Kaiden began circling the battlefield collecting loot. Besides a good amount of coins, nothing notable dropped as Kaiden stored the equipment in his ring to later unload into the Guild Warehouse.

Although he was facing idiots, he found no reason to needlessly increase his Kill Count. Therefore, picking up the loot he and Snow Bunny journeyed deeper into the valley.

"I guess you handled that well." muttered Snow Bunny behind causing Kaiden to turn.

"Mn." Nodding, Kaiden turned back around as he focused on the journey. For some reason, his mood wasn't returning back to normal.

Glancing at Kaiden's back, Snow Bunny became slightly curious. It wasn't like him to just nod and not answer with words. 'He seems a bit cold? Did my attitude upset him? I don't know.'

However, that wasn't the case. Rather Kaiden was slightly agitated that he was being belittled by a guild with barely any reputation. Perhaps this was the slight immaturity in him.

"Did I anger you?" unable to set aside her curiosity, Snow Bunny asked.

However, she didn't receive a verbal answer—only a shaking of the head which made her ponder.

Behind them, the team resurrected. And with that resurrection, a newfound weariness existed in them when they realized who killed them.

"Oh crap…who did we offend? That's Unsheathed! The one's who name has been constantly appearing in the system announcements." voiced an Assassin to the side.

"He seems young. If his talent is so strong as a young age… Oh god." shiver Horizon Break as he began lamenting the fact he had provoked a future monster or worse...a Titled Titan.

However, unknown to them—Kaiden didn't place them in his eyes at all. He was more so upset at himself for he didn't possess any solid reputation to deter people like established guilds. While they needlessly worried, Kaiden was absorbed in his own thoughts, concocting plans for the future to support his growth.

In light of this, Kaiden ran into a roadblock in his planning as he didn't possess much knowledge of this game world. However, when it came to the real world he possessed no worries at all. With his skillset he was confident in acquiring the companies he wanted.

While absorbed into his thoughts, Kaiden unknowingly wandered into a cave inside the valley. However, this wasn't a normal cave at all as Kaiden was confronted by a few system messages.

[System: You have found the entrance to the Subterranean Molten Morphing Trial Secret Dungeon. This is a special one time entry dungeon. Inside lies many different opportunities.]

[System WARNING: Due to you being in a party inherent Difficulty raised from Elite to Hell. The rewards are also raised as a result.]

[System: Due to the nature of this Secret Dungeon, if you choose not to enter this will disappear. Will you be entering? (Y/N)?]

"Eh?" reading the messages Kaiden began pondering.

"Do you want to enter this? I'm not exactly sure what Hell Mode means but it is definitely worse than Elite Mode." asked Kaiden.

"Mmm… Maybe? This will be dangerous." replied Snow Bunny.

Nodding, Kaiden turned back towards the entrance as he took a step.

'If you don't take chances...you won't advance at the pace you want. Even in adversity then is a chance of growth.'

"Enter."