The Strongest Player is a Demon Lord

The Emperor of Requiem

Requiem.

The VMMORPG that has taken the world by storm. This game is a lot different from its counterparts because of one thing – metamorphosis. The world of Requiem is constantly evolving. With each world quest and secret quest completed within it, some things change. Either for the better or for the worse.

Killing a bishop might make a despot priest take his place, creating a cult that spells trouble for the players. Receiving a blessing from a king might turn a player as potential target for other kingdoms. Sometimes, even enough to begin a war. Then there are monster hunts. Boss fights. Adventures. Friendships. Betrayals. Special events.

All these and more adds excitement and challenge to the game, especially the part where Requiem changes on a daily basis. A feature that isn’t present on other games. But this dynamicity isn’t even the only thing worthy of praise.

Everything within the environment is detailed to the point that this fantasy world can be mistaken for reality. Every leaf on a tree, every strand of hair, every bead of sweat. All of these are as detailed as they are in real life. And so is the experience of the players that is just as immersive. A major contributor as to why a lot of players have settled to staying here longer than in the real world.

Nobody can blame them. The real world is trash. With the years that passed, human greed increased to the point that the world is on the brink of collapse. With pollution entering a non-reversible state. With natural resources reaching a level of scarcity that only the wealthy can afford them.

That is why the government launched Requiem. Yes, it is through the funds of the world government that a game such as Requiem has been made.

To prevent the massive riots and to decrease dissatisfaction. The game and the console are given for free. There are hubs where this can be played as well – stationed within every city, town, and even villages. Due to this, Requiem’s popularity reached a point where selling items for real money became a thing. Allowing the better players to climb the social ladder of the real world while also climbing the ranks of players within the game.

Yet even with this highly competitive game style, there is only one guild at the peak. Avalon. A guild made up of the strongest players within every class. But even among them, there are three who are considered to be the strongest.

[Player Name: Merlin Warlock]

[Title: The Great Sage]

[Level: 100+]

[Player Name: Arthur Pendragon]

[Title: The Sword Saint]

[Level 100+]

[Player Name: Morgause Igraine]

[Title: The Blood Witch]

[Level 100+]

These three are at the top of the overall ranks. Them staying together at the same guild proves further how powerful Avalon is.

The twelve members of Avalon do not even need anyone else beneath them. Meaning, other than the strongest, there are no other players within the guild. One might think that it is pride and cockiness that runs in their head since they came up with such a rule. But here’s the thing, no matter how many players it is that try to siege them, they have never lost a single battle.

Of course, all this talk would be cheap without any actual demonstration. So why don’t we dive in to the world of Requiem where a war is brewing. The greatest one up to date; where the reigning guild of Avalon is at war against the second up to the tenth strongest guilds.

…

“CAST!”

Multiple magic circles appeared in the sky, surrounding the castle of Avalon. Various colors could be seen from these as they represent the attribute about to be casted. Lightning. Fire. Ice. Water. Earth. Wind. Light. Darkness. All of these shaped in the form of long ranged attacks that rained down upon the castle.

These collided with the barrier surrounding the castle. A reflection of it showing with every spell that makes contact. Yet, even with the storm of spells, the barrier shows no sign of breaking. Not even a dent being made.

Aegis. That is the name of this barrier that surrounds Avalon’s castle. A barrier that is as popular as the guild it defends. All because it has never broken; not even once. Yet this is not enough to dishearten the storm of spells that shows no signs of ceasing.

“Damn monstrous shield.” The leader of the mages, Gerald, said. His eyes looking at the remainder of Aegis’ damage absorption.

[576, 241/ 1,000,000]

Almost half of the shield has already been chunked down. It took them half an hour to do so. Though it has its merits, this feat does not come without casualties. Multiple shadow soldiers marched towards the union of the nine guilds. Creatures summoned by Shadow Necromancer of Avalon.

“What are you guys doing down there? Aren’t you supposed to be breaking through the ranks of the summons?” Gerald asked through [Voice Chat].

“If it’s so easy then you do it!” Desmond said, the leader of the vanguard.

What Gerald said is true. It’s easy to fight against shadow soldiers. There are a total of one hundred players going up against these summons. They easily overpower the weak creatures. In fact, one player is enough to handle twenty shadow soldiers.

But the problem is that they aren’t only facing shadow soldiers. They are also facing monster summons that are mixed within this group. On top of all this is the aura enchantment; raising the summons’ attack and defense further while also providing a percentage of healing every ten seconds.

While there is still hope for the players to overcome this, the problem is that they are fighting summons. Meaning another thing – once defeated, these creatures can be resummoned.

Individually, these are weak. But they aren’t by themselves. And no matter what fighting style is used against them, all the summons need to do is swing their weapons and march forward. Unlike the players, they have no stamina so they can keep on fighting. That is why the vanguard of the nine guilds is being pushed back, with Desmond even seeing the final moment before one of his guildmates gets taken down.

A shadow soldier swings towards a swordsman. The player dodges and strikes with a counter, slicing off the head of his target. But this is followed by two other shadow soldiers rushing forward. The swordsman is easily able to weave his body through the strikes of these two as well. Hitting his enemies while performing the motion and thus killing them. Yet as he did, there is another shadow soldier waiting for him – this time he isn’t able to react on time as he gets stabbed on the head.

The remainder of this player’s heath bar is drained. Turning him into mana particles and leaving him unable to play the game for a whole hour. And this losing battle is enough to tick off the second strongest swordsman within the game. Tristan the Berserker.

“Come out and fight us you cowards!” Tristan howled as a wave of his crimson mana spread across the entirety of the battlefield. The weakened shadow soldiers are burned by the attack and the other monsters owned by Avalon are taken down as well.

When the howling wind settled, Tristan can be seen at the center of a vast empty space. Crimson aura covering his whole body. The Berserker didn’t waste a second and dashed forward in this form. Getting reprimanded by Gerald right away.

“Idiot! Why are you using that now! You’re supposed to be reserving that power for when you fight Arthur!”

“Oh just shut up will you? There won’t be any Arthur for me left to fight if we can’t even break through that f*ckin shield!” Tristan muted the voice chat.

The form he’s using is known as [Berserk]. A skill which drastically increases all of the user’s stats for a while. The price for such a powerful skill is paralysis for five minutes after using it – an effect which cannot be negated no matter what.

Tristan’s version of this skill is at the highest. He has maxed it out. Allowing him to increase all his attribute points twenty-fold when in the berserk state. Faster than any assassin, stronger than any barbarian, tougher than any vanguard.

With that much power, he can easily level the entirety of the battlefield. That is why his allies ran for their lives as soon as they felt the aura of the Berserker being let loose. There is only one thing that can come out after its release:

Destruction.

Tristan leapt in the air, higher than all of the magic circles conjured by his allies. He filled his greatsword with crimson mana and in the blink of an eye, swung his whole body’s weight unto a singular attack. Tristan crashed to the ground, generating an impact more powerful than any meteor.

Tremors are created, shattering the earth into pieces while creating waves of crimson mana. This time wiping away the entirety of the ranks of summons. Those that are still alive and those that are on the verge of complete respawn.

“Crazy musclehead.” Gerald muttered as he witnessed the spectacle.

Tristan continued by dashing forward. With the whole of the enemy’s forces taken down, the only thing left is to attack the guild’s barrier itself. The summons would come back of course. But that would still take a couple of seconds. And with Tristan’s enhanced stats, he only needs a second to cover the distance between his swing and the barrier. One which he executed right away.

With him in front of Aegis, he placed all of his remaining mana unto a singular attack. The same attack that is supposed to be his trump card in the fight against Arthur Pendragon. A spell named:

“Heavenly Demon’s Slash!”

Tristan’s weapon struck true. The impact it made with the barrier is so powerful that everyone could hear it echo in an ear deafening tone. With the shockwave being so strong that even Tristan is almost blown away. Blood coming out of his ears and even his eye sockets. But he continued with the attack – pouring every ounce of power he has. Effort that is rewarded by the draining of the [Aegis’] remaining defense.

[450,000]

[390,000]

[320,000]

The barrier’s capability rapidly went down the drain. Everyone cheered as they saw this. More importantly, they poured their mana into Tristan. Something made possible through a magical device they bought for this war.

The summons began to march towards Tristan again but the berserker easily dealt with them by blasting a wave of crimson mana once more. Leaving the battlefield completely empty except for him and this effort that he’s making. Multiple strikes continuing to make contact with the barrier.

This would go down in history as a legendary moment. Avalon’s [Aegis] will fall and with it comes the march of the players form the top nine guilds. There will be a long battle against the twelve strongest. And at the end, the seemingly undefeatable players of Avalon will have their record stained – the perfect underdog story that will inspire other players to never give up…

But that will never happen.

“Master!” A soldier came to Gerald with labored breaths.

“What do you want?” Gerald said in a sharp tone. “This better be important.”

“At the sky master!” These are the only words that Gerald needed in order to understand the message. There is only one player capable of rising to the heavens. The guild master of Avalon and its strongest player – Merlin.

It would take Gerald ten seconds to issue a command. Ten more seconds for the other players to understand it. Around twenty seconds for it to be executed. In less than one minute all attacks and attention will be diverted to Merlin – yet they aren’t even graced with this mercy.

“Everyone! Raise your – ”

A violent flash of light consumed the whole battlefield. Lightning struck down in the form of a vicious dragon. Devouring the entirety of the battlefield within it. In less than a second, everything is wiped from existence.

Not a single thing moved.

Not a single sound is made.

All that’s left is he who dominates the heavens. The Great Sage. No. There is a name that he has earned from the players of this game. One that has never been stripped from him. The strongest player, Merlin Warlock:

The Emperor of Requiem.