Rael reached home, stepping inside and kig off his shoes with a tired sigh. As he walked into the living room, his eyes nded on Elias, who was sitting on the couch, pletely absorbed in some bizarre game on his phone.

  The s fshed with bright, erratic colors as Elias swiped furiously, his entire body moving in sync with the beat of whatever chaotisense ying. At one point, he jumped up, struck a ridiculous pose, and yelled, “DIE!” before resuming what looked like a mix of dang and battle strategy.

  Rael just stood there, watg in silent disbelief.

  Elias finally noticed him and grinned. “Nice level finish,” he said proudly before turning his head—only to find Rael staring at him as if he were some kind of circus act.

  “…What?” Elias asked, blinking.

  Rael shook his head, deg to ignore whatever the hell that was.

  Elias stretched and yawned befng toward the kit. “Anyway, what took you so long? I logged out and saw there was no food, so I figured you went to grab some.”

  Rael was about to answer but then remembered exactly why he hadn’t been able to get his ese food. That crazy woman had pletely derailed his pns. He sighed and plopped down on the couch.

  “You won’t believe what happened,” he muttered, rubbing his temples. “I ran into some girl at the store, and somehow, I ended up paying for her groceries, theing dragged to a café, then paying again before running the hell out of there.”

  For a moment, there was silence.

  Then Elias burst out ughing.

  “Bro. Bro.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “You got scammed twice. TWICE!”

  Rael groaned, already regretting telling him.

  Elias was still ughing when Rael pulled out his phone, navigating to his favorite takeout app with the efficy of a man who had long accepted his fate.

  "Yeah, yeah, ugh it up," Rael muttered, scrolling through the menu. "I only mao get groceries because of that whole mess. No ese food."

  Elias, barely holding in anh, clutched his stomach. "Wait, wait. So let me get this straight—you went out to buy food, got sidetracked by some random girl, PAID for her stuff, the her drag you to a café, PAID again, and ran away like you were esg a crime se? And after all that… no food?"

  Rael didn't even look up, his thumb tapping the s as he pced an order. "That about sums it up."

  Elias whistled. "Damn. She got you good. You were basically her personal sponsor for the night."

  Rael sighed, firming his order. "She didn't even need me to pay. Her dad owns half the city."

  Elias blihe ughter pausing for just a sed before returning in full force. "NO WAY. You got finessed by a rich girl? That makes it ten times funnier!"

  Rael pihe bridge of his nose. "I'm blog you."

  Elias, still ughing, threw an arm over the back of the couch. "Nah, man, this is premium eai. Who was she, anyway?"

  Rael shrugged. "Sabrina something. Silver hair. Looked familiar."

  Elias choked on his ughter. "SABRINA ASHFORD? Bro, she's like, the heir to a multi-billion dolr empire. And YOU paid for HER?"

  Rael leaned back against the couch, eyes shutting as he sighed. "I hate this city."

  As Elias wiped a tear from his eye, still grinning from Rael’s earlier misfortuhe versation gradually shifted baething more relevant—their guild.

  “So,” Rael started, stretg out on the couch. “We o start properly dungeon raiding in groups.”

  Elias raised an eyebrow. “Gale’s already doing that.”

  Rael shook his head. “I mean as a whole guild. We need some kind of unity. A rallying point. Right now, everyone's just doing their own thing. If we don’t get everyone w together, Argent Eclipse is going to feel more like a loose colle of pyers than an actual guild.”

  Elias clicked his toch. Look at you, Guild Leader mode activated.”

  Before Rael could respond, his phone buzzed. The s lit up with a name—Evan.

  He picked up. “Yeah?”

  “Hey, Rael.” Evan’s tone was casual but carried a hint of something else. “I was w—since yuild has also reached Level 2, would you be ied in a friendly spar between our two guilds?”

  Rael paused for a moment. Just as he was thinking about ways to improve the guild’s unity, Evan vely called with an offer that lined up perfectly. He exhaled through his nose. If this game had a Luck stat, his would probably be capped at 99 by default.

  But they hit him. He had exactly two abilities to his name. No subcss. No defined role. And then there was Elias—his own teammate—a walking disaster in human form.

  Maybe his Luck wasn’t maxed out after all.

  Yeah… this robably just ba work.

  Rael snapped back to the versation, sidering the options. A simple PvP match was standard, but it wouldn’t do mu terms of actual teamwork. They needed something that enced coordination rather than just individual skill.

  “What kind of team-based activities were you thinking?” he asked.

  Evan chuckled. “I was thinking cssic capture the fg, but instead of a fg, we use a moving target.”

  Rael raised an eyebrow. “Moving target?”

  “Yeah,” Evan tinued. “Each team designates one member as their ‘target,’ and the goal is to capture the earget while proteg your own. To capture someone, you o subdue them and hold them in a designated capture zone for a set amount of time. Of course, the ‘target’ isn’t just dead weight—they fight back, and their team break them out before they get fully captured.”

  Rael tapped his fingers against the table. It was actually a solid idea. Uandard PvP, where fights were straight-up eliminations, this format would force pyers to think about positioning, strategy, and teamwork. Plus, it meant different pystyles could shine. Agile pyers could evade capture, tanks could serve as bodyguards, and strategists could set up ambushes.

  “That could work,” Rael admitted. “It’ll test how well each guild funs as a unit, not just how strong individuals are.”

  “Exactly.” Evan sounded satisfied. “Also, it keeps things iing. A lot of guilds get stuck just running PvP duels, and holy, that gets old fast.”

  Rael o himself. “Fine. We’ll do it. When were you thinking?”

  Evan’s voice took on a petitive edge. “Three days game time. No reason to wait.”

  Rael smirked slightly. “Alright. We’ll be ready.”

  As the call ended, Rael sat ba his chair, his mind turning over the uping challe wasn’t just a simple spar—this would be a real test of how his guild could fun as a team.

  Elias, who had been quietly scrolling through his phone, looked up as Rael stood up. “What’s up?”

  Rael shrugged nontly. “Twisted Demons just asked for a team-building activity. They want a friendly challeomorrow.”

  Elias raised an eyebrow. “Twisted Demons? Wasn’t their guild leader your old teammate?”

  Rael nodded. “Yeah, Evan. He’s been pushing his guild to get strohat just means it’ll be a good test for us.”

  Elias smirked. “Guess we better bring ame then, huh?”

  Rael gave a small grin. “Definitely.”

  * * *

  Rael stood tall at the podium in the guild hall, his voice steady and anding. "Alright, listen up, everyone. We've got three days in-game to prepare for the ‘Capture the Human’ activity. It’s basically a ‘Capture the Fg’ game, but with one of us as the fg. oal is to defend our person while trying to capture the uild’s fg iurn."

  Mira, always eager, raised her hand with her usual suhusiasm. "Who will be the fg, though?"

  Rael turo Elias, who was sittio him, a prideful smile on his face, clearly rexed and ready for whatever came . The guild was quiet. Too quiet.

  Suddenly, Elias looked up, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. The entire guild was staring at him. His fident expression faltered. “Wait… Why me?”

  Leon chuckled from the back of the room. "Well, you do have 'professional bait' listed on your resume." He grinned, clearly enjoying the situation.

  Gale, who had been quietly , nodded in agreement. "Yeah, your Trapmaster css is perfect for this. You’re the ideal person to be the fg and defend yourself."

  Elias looked from Leon to Gale, then back to the guild. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Seriously?" he groaned, a little exasperated. "I’m the fg?"

  Kazan, the Berserker, threw in with a grin. "Don’t worry, Vice Leader. I’ll protect you with my life!" He gave Elias a thumbs-up, his tone brimming with mock siy.

  Elias scowled at him, clearly not amused. "You just like pain," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

  The rest of the guild members nodded without hesitation, and Elias let out a deep sigh, knowing it oiue.

  By the time everyourheir attention back to Rael, they were baffled. Somehow, in the span of a few seds of silence, he’d mao pull out a set of specs, a PowerPoint s, and—of all things—a teag stick. The guild members exged fused gnces, but remembering how their leader was at times, they just shrugged it off.

  Rael adjusted his gsses, oblivious to the stares. “Alright, listen up,” he began, tapping the whiteboard with his stick. “Twisted Demons. Their leader, Evan—known in the pro se as ‘Maple’—is a tanking monster. We don’t kly what css he’s running this time, but we make a pretty solid guess.”

  He clicked to the slide, showing a blurry image of Evan in full armor. “Knowing Maple, he’s gonna go all-out with aggressive pys. And that’s where we e in.”

  Rael paced in front of the board. “We ’t predict all the variables here. Ast has so much flexibility that we ’t just rely on the same old strategies. That’s why we’re going full defense for this challenge. We’ll keep our target protected at all costs and focus on drawing out Evan’s aggression.”

  He poi the s. “If he’s smart, he’ll try to overwhelm us with pure force, which means our job is to anticipate his moves and use his rush against him. We’ll bait him into making mistakes, and when he does, we exploit it. Our strength lies in waiting for the right moment and turning the tables when he least expects it.”

  The guild members exged looks, nodding in uanding.

  "Any questions?" Rael asked, adjusting his gsses once more.

  * * *

  Rael stood alone uhe vast sky of Solmora, the cool night air calming his mind. He gazed at the stars above, their twinkling patterns soothing him as he tried to clear his thoughts. There was so mu his mind—the strategy, his guild’s performahe uping battle with Twisted Demons. Despite it all, the sky was breathtakingly beautiful. It was a moment of peace before everything kicked into motion.

  Suddenly, a notification pinged in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts. A system interface message fshed:

  [Maple: "Is everything ready on your end?"]

  Rael gnced back to see his guildmates in the distance, jumping around and doing odd stretches, their ughter filling the air. It was chaotic, but it felt... right. Like a family preparing for something big. He couldn't help but smile at the sight.

  He took a deep breath and tapped the s in response.

  [Noctus: "Yeah, we’re ready."]

  He tapped the s again to close the message, but before he could even think to pocket his hands, the world around him began to shift. The sky darkened, and the ndscape ed into somethiirely new. In the blink of an eye, he found himself standing in the middle of a barren wastend. The dry, cracked earth beh his feet seemed to stretdlessly. A cold chill hung in the air, though it wasn’t quite snow—it was as if a light dusting of ice had settled over the desert.

  Three moons hung high in the sky, casting an eerie glow that made the se feel even more surreal. Rael couldn’t help but stare at them, transfixed for a moment. The arena was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

  A voice pulled him from his thoughts. It was Evan, standing nearby with a calm, reflective expression.

  “The moons are so beautiful,” Evan said, his voice carrying a quiet reverence.

  Rael g the sky, taking ihree moons that hung above the barren ndscape. Then, Evan turned his gaze ba, the petitive fire in his eyes returning. “Twisted Demons are ready.”

  Rael turo face the opposing guild. They stood a short distance away, their eyes sharp with determination, clearly prepared for the battle ahead.

  Evan gave the sky o gnce, his expression thoughtful, before he turned back to Rael. "Isn’t this arena something?"

  Rael nodded, still captivated by the moons. "Yeah, it’s... something."

  After a few quiet exges, both guilds began to move toward their designated zohe atmosphere was thick with anticipation. Rael couldn’t help but take o look at the strange moons above as he turoward his own guild.

  Rael moved toward his guildmates, his gaze sharp as he approached them. The atmosphere shifted from pyful chaos to focused iy. They were all ready for his instrus.

  “Alright,” Rael began, his voice steady and anding. “Elias, you are the fg. You’ll stay within the designated fg zone, about a 400-meter radius. You move within that space, but your primary goal is to keep the fg safe by staying within the boundaries.”

  Elias gave a nod, his expression serious as he adjusted to his role.

  Rael tinued, “Our inal pn was to stay defensive, but this map’s a desert, and that’s going to ge things. There’s no cover, and the open space will make it harder to rely on positioning like we pnned. We’ll still stick to our deferategy, but we’ll have to tweak how we set up. I’ve got ahough. Stay sharp.”

  He turoward Elias again. “You and twenty others will defend you. They’ll stay close to you ahe enemies away. It’s your job to keep moving within the zone and avoid getting caught, but your main job is to stay put in the zone as much as you .”

  Takaanding nearby, gave a deep bow. “I won’t betray your expectations, Leader.”

  Rael nodded and then gave Gale a sharp look. He signaled him with a small nod.

  Leon's voice broke through the moment. “What about me and the others, Rael?”

  Rael gave a small smile, his eyes flig toward Mira. “We’ll be using every tool we have. Don’t worry about the details—just be ready to adapt.”

  He turned back to the group. “Let’s get in position. Trust the pn.”

  The team nodded, uanding their roles without needing to be told everything. They moved with purpose, ready to face whatever was ing.