Lethal Feedback has been authorized in this area floated in the center of the room in large, red lettering.
"The hell is that?" Van muttered as he looked at the alert. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand up as he realized what had happened. Someone had activated their orb early. This wasn't good at all. Everyone had an extra orb in case Van and Sang were somehow incapacitated, but no one was supposed to activate theirs.
"I don't particularly understand," the Emperor said. "That shouldn't be up there." Van could hear a softness in the dragon's voice.
An ear-shattering, blood-curdling scream came from one of the yellow dragons as its throat was cut wide open, causing it to thrash about before it died. The creature's body faded away as soon as it was dead.
"You… bastards," the Emperor gasped. "You figured out some way to turn on our haptic kill switches. How?"
"It's a secret!" Van replied as he swung into action. He rushed around the back of the dragon, using the rope he'd still held tight to hoist himself back up to the wings of the beast. He swung his hammer hard against the creature, feeling the weight of the weapon crash into the connecting joint between the wing and the dragon's back.
20 damage! hovered above the dragon. Van grimaced – that was a tiny amount of damage to be dealing to a powerful dragon like this.
"Ahhhhh!" the Emperor screamed. Van chuckled for a moment, thinking the Emperor was making a joke, but quickly realized that the beast was thrashing about in real agony.
"Wait a second…" Van whispered as he noticed that the Emperor's health was only at 200 now. He quickly checked his own character sheet to see if his health had been changed, too.
Everything had changed due to the area's lethality. By turning the section into a Designated Reality Zone, they'd ensured that stats were a lot more realistic. With only 200 hit points, the Emperor didn't stand a chance. Of course, this also meant that, if Van wasn't careful, he'd be killed rather easily, too.
Arrows flew from the ground towards the Emperor now, crashing into his body. "Arrrgh!" the Emperor shouted again as his health dropped down to 150.
The dragon shifted around as it began to cast a powerful spell, creating a shimmering bubble to surround itself. Van was inside of the purplish bubble, and he could see that arrows were coming from all directions… but were unable to penetrate the bubble.
"I suppose this is what I get for being cocky. I knew you humans were different," the Emperor said, "but I didn't realize you were this capable."
"At least you're humble about it," Van commented as he activated his Fierce Rage power again. The surge of energy jacked his health up to 200 and his strength score increased drastically. He could feel the power pulsing inside of him and he unleashed his rage by crashing his hammer against the Emperor's wings again.
"Ah! Enough!" the Emperor shouted as he reached his long-clawed hand behind his back and grabbed Van.
"Crap!" Van shouted as he tried to resist the strength of the dragon, but it held him tightly. Apparently, it could have grabbed him at any time.
The Emperor held Van right in front of him, snarling a little. "Van, I am impressed endlessly with you, but you made a choice by activating this lethal system. Now, I am fair…" he began as a small puff of flames emanated from his nostrils. Van could feel the intense heat of the fire and knew that he was about to be cooked. His No Bonds Can Hold Me power was done for the day, as well. "So, here's the deal. Surrender and join me, or die this instant. Make your choice now."
"I'll join you!" Van shouted, trying his hardest not to chuckle as he said it.
The Emperor sighed. "Now that sarcasm is starting to get annoying. Well, I tried." He narrowed his eyes and took in a sharp breath. Before he could unleash the flames that would end Van's life, though, Jet came charging up and crashed through the purple shield, shattering it.
Van felt himself freefall as the Emperor released him in the process of trying to fight back against Jet's assault. The black dragon was fiercely clawing and slashing at the Emperor, though, and the two were immediately engaged in fierce combat.
"I gotcha!" Sang shouted as she came out of nowhere and grabbed Van. She activated her ring of slow falling then and the two descended to the ground.
"Where did you come from?" Van asked.
"Jumped off of Jet to grab you," Sang replied. "We're gonna win this one!"
They touched the ground gently just in time to see Jet throw the Emperor onto the floor. The force of the large red dragon hitting the earth left a huge crater and shook the ground itself.
"Come on!" Van shouted to his team as about fifty members of the Iron Dragons rallied around him. There were more dragons pouring in through the hole, but most were unaware of the lethal biofeedback effect until it was too late. Between the mercenaries guarding the entrance to keep other dragons out and Van's forces, now there was no way for the Emperor to have a chance.
"Charrrrge!" everyone shouted as they rushed to the site where the Emperor and Jet were locked in mortal combat.
"Enough!" the Emperor boomed as he grabbed Jet's right wing and tore it clean off, eliciting a shriek of agony from the black dragon. Jet tried to bite down on the Emperor, but wasn't fast enough. The Emperor, lying on his back, spun around hard, throwing Jet off of him.
"You think you can all come at me?" the Emperor shouted as he stood tall, Van and his team surrounding him. The shimmering bubble had returned and was still blocking arrows from striking him, and they could see that he was trying to calculate what his next move would be. "You all think that I can die here?"
Jet tried to regain his footing but, due to his injury, only collapsed as he tried to get up.
"Bidane!" Van shouted. "Heal Jet before he dies!"
"Aye!" Bidane yelled back as she ran past him to render aid to the dragon.
"Deactivate the system and you'll live!" Van yelled at the Emperor. They had surrounded him at this point. Everyone was wielding a long halberd designed specifically for thrusts into a dragon's flesh. "All you need to do to get out of this is to just turn off whatever thing will destroy this planet and you can walk out of here alive."
Van was lying, of course. The moment the Emperor turned off the system, he would be killed.
"You think you can scare me? I told you, Van! I AM A GOD!" the Emperor shrieked as he unloosed a torrent of fire upon Van and his allies. A magical wall of stone appeared in front of Van's team, though, shielding them from the flames. Van glanced over at Fredlin, whose hands were high as he muttered spells to keep the wall going.
"Charge!" Van yelled. "Kill the Emperor!" The soldiers rushed forward in a blitz to do as they'd been ordered. And the Emperor was fast, but there were just too many for him to ward off. His claws raked, his tail whipped, and his jaws snapped, but no matter how many he wounded or killed, more would arrive. Spears and halberds were stabbing at him and his health was quickly dropping. Van was in the back, directing the forces to move in waves and controlling their formations. They had to be careful not to kill the Emperor before they could convince him to deactivate the world-destroying protocol. Van had no idea what the obliteration of the world would look like, but their fight would mean nothing if they just killed the Emperor and the world was destroyed anyway.
"Enough!" Van yelled to his forces once the Emperor's health was down to 15. The dragon was gasping and grunting. Blood was pouring from every part of his body. Among him were hundreds of dead players. He glared at Van.
"You really think you can kill me?" the Emperor said weakly.
"You think we can't?" Van replied as he approached the dragon. "You were kind to me, in your way," he continued as he stood defiantly in front of the beast. "You tried to make me a deal and, as such, I want to repay the favor. Stop the destruction of our planet and you'll walk out of here."