Chapter 267 : Brother Ghost

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Edit Note:

While rereading the last few chapters, I realized that Thirty-Two was already one of the qualified players. I had mistakenly thought he wasn’t, so I’ve gone back and edited those chapters. I’ve replaced him with Fifty-Two, who has a similar skill: [Remote Bomb], which creates remote explosions based on how much mana is spent.

In terms of personality, Thirty-Two is shy but overpowered, while Fifty-Two is more of a bluffer—high damage, low endurance. He relies on a MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) kind of threat to keep others at bay.

TL;DR: In the last 5 chapters, Thirty-Two has been replaced by Fifty-Two because Thirty-Two was already qualified. Thirty-Two is shy and OP; Fifty-Two hits hard but is fragile.

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Two activated [Attract] on Eighty, sent him flying with another blow, gaining a level of [Outbid], and repeated the process, again and again.

His [Outbid] skill forced him to strike with full strength every time, making each impact stronger than the last...

When Two noticed the many eyes watching him, he even picked up the pace to reach the maximum number of stacks.

‘A whole bunch of them are focusing on me…’

Aware of the strange powers some of his brothers possessed, he stayed on guard despite his overwhelming strength. He quickly identified the remaining survivors and began planning the order in which to eliminate them.

‘Just like me, those two are sponsored…’ Noticing the empty space around Two Hundred Twenty-Two and Ninety-Five, he smiled.

‘Triple Two is a threat to anyone here because of his flame-based Supreme Skill… He hasn’t had it long, but he still freaks me out.’

'Ninety-Five is even scarier with his bow and arrows… Why wasn’t he picked as a pre-qualified contender?’

Ignoring the two floating nearby, he chose his first victim and returned to the fight.

Moving at high speed thanks to his many ultimate skills, he appeared almost instantly in front of one alter ego…

“What—” Two ignored his brother’s surprise and struck him down with a vicious whip-like kick from his right leg…

Knowing the hit would be fatal, he used the inertia of the motion to dash toward his next target. Just like the first, this one didn’t last long and was eliminated just as quickly.

Two showed no mercy, no favoritism. The players who had stayed on the edges of battle soon became the center of attention.

Some fled in panic, others responded with their trump cards, but Two was like a bulldozer.

Unstoppable.

After around thirty eliminations, however, he was forced to stop.

‘Seventeen took an arm off me, One Thirty-Seven cursed me, doubling my energy consumption, and Triple Nine just forced me to become pacifistic for ten seconds…’
He assessed his condition and began regenerating his missing arm.

His attention then shifted to the timer on his [Outbid] skill.

‘I’ve got twelve seconds left to reset the timer and get another thirty seconds at full power. Triple Nine held back his ability just to block my reset… Smart move, but he died two seconds too early. Two seconds is more than enough to give Eighty another punch.’

Unable to fight, he had no choice but to watch what was happening around him.

Taking advantage of the chaos he’d helped create, the other champions had drawn their weapons and started eliminating many of the players who had fled the melee against him.

On the battlefield, he could now only see six other players.

‘Good thing Eighty’s still alive… I made the right call picking him to stack [Outbid]. That little guy has some damn good survivability skills…’

‘Eighty, Two Hundred Twenty-Two, Ninety-Five, Fifty-Two, Ninety-Nine, and Triple-Six. Six players still standing besides me.’

Before adjusting his strategy, he noticed something odd and shared his confusion with the others.

“Guys… Are you seeing the same number as me up there? Tell me I’m not going crazy…”
He pointed to the number eight glowing in the sky.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two smiled. “You’re just noticing? There’s someone else in here with us—but he's not showing themselves. We’re not seven. We’re eight.”

Noticing Two looking toward Eighty, Ninety-Five drew his bow and aimed at Eighty.

Two sighed as he saw the archer target Eighty and instantly moved between them.

By eliminating Eighty, Ninety-Five would rob Two of his [Outbid] stacking source. Two knew full well that if he couldn’t reset his buff, his chances of winning would drop to zero.

“You really want to take me out?” Two was disappointed by Ninety-Five’s choice.

The archer ignored him and fired anyway.

The arrow shot straight toward Two… then passed through him without doing any damage.

‘I’ve got nothing to cancel the state imposed by Triple Nine… This [Pacifist] state is annoying!’

Since Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine had placed the Pacifist condition on him, he could neither deal nor receive damage. He couldn’t even interact with enemy skills.

The arrow continued on its path and for what felt like the hundredth time this battle, Eighty became the target of a devastating attack…

Two’s stomach clenched as he saw Eighty take the arrow head-on. But just as he wondered what happened to his brother, he heard his voice echo in the arena.

“Didn’t think I’d draw aggro from the all the big fish today. I really thought I’d make it to the end. But if I’ve gotta die—I might as well choose who gets the kill.”

Two understood instantly what had happened.

‘He changed the target of his [Ignore] skill and made himself invulnerable to Ninety-Five’s attacks!’

Seeing that his [Pacifist] status was about to end, Two stepped away from Eighty and prepared to activate [Attract] again.

He leapt backward several times and positioned himself near the remaining fighters, almost as if inviting them to surround him.

‘I’ll only get one shot at an opportunity like this… Thanks, little brother. I owe you one.’
Two made the promise silently.

Once freed, Two pulled Eighty toward his left hand and prepared a punch with all his strength…

Despite what was clearly going to be a fatal outcome, Eighty didn’t seem angry or disappointed.

Two was relieved by his brother’s sportsmanship and activated a skill he had never used during the battle.

A trump card he’d been saving to end the fight.

[Ricochet] [Ultimate – 1★]

[Description: Your attacks rebound from a target to another nearby enemy, carrying half of the original impact. Each consecutive bounce will have half the strength of the previous one. Distance and number of bounces can increase with mastery.]

Eighty, now face-to-face with Two, was obliterated by a single punch. The players around them weren’t surprised by the result—they had even braced themselves for the shockwave that followed all of Two’s attacks.

They were all in defensive positions, ready to block or redirect the impact. But none of them could understand what happened next.

Even before the shockwave hit, Triple Six—who was closest to Two—exploded into a thousand pieces...

Two Hundred Twenty-Two and Ninety-Five were shocked to see a player die without an apparent cause, and could only watch helplessly as Fifty-Two and Ninety-Nine were obliterated one after another.

Two watched his attack bounce from enemy to enemy with a mix of surprise and ecstasy. He could feel the energy of his fist dancing left and right, wiping out anything in its path.

When he saw the horrified expression on Ninety-Five’s face, who was next in line, his smile widened.
‘That’s what you get for targeting me.’

But before the attack could reach him, a beam of light shot out from the spectator stands, canceling the technique’s effect.

“Saved by the bell!” Two teased his brother, who was sweating nervously. He appeared next to him and grabbed his shoulder.

“You were excellent today. Those arrows were terrifying.” He complimented him as if the deadly battle moments ago was already ancient history.

Seeing his brother’s cheerful demeanor, Ninety-Five finally relaxed. “What was that last attack? That was terrifying…”

“Ah! That? That was [Ricochet]… One of my secret moves.” Two shared his secret and conjured up a glowing mana-based hologram of the skill’s description.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two floated closer to them and read the description over their shoulders.

“Wow… That skill has insane potential… Why didn’t you upgrade it to 2★?” Despite having an impressive number of ultimate skills himself, Two Hundred Twenty-Two couldn’t help but envy his brother’s ability.

“Ricochet? With that, I’d wreak havoc with my bow… If every arrow bounced like that, I could fight entire armies!”

The smile on Two’s face showed he appreciated their reactions.
“I didn’t have the resources for a third 2★ skill… But even at 1★, it does the job when [Outbid] is fully stacked.”

While chatting, the trio floated down toward Sora and the rest of the spectators. Nearly a thousand were watching them.

All the alter egos eliminated during the fights had come back to life and were re-invited into the “box” by Sora.

Once the trio set foot on the ground—

Sora communicated with the five pre-selected alter egos, and each of them rose from their seat and walked over to join the victors.

Newtons made a series of hand gestures, and a platform appeared beneath the eight selected players, lifting them into the air against their will.

The massive crowd of alter egos surrounded the slowly rising platform and began to applaud the winners.

Two, Two Hundred Twenty-Two, and Ninety-Five froze at such a reception.

Annoyed to see only eight players on the platform, Newtons shouted: “Brother Ghost! Show yourself!!”

Taken aback by the call, but confused, Two didn’t react—until he felt a cold energy near his neck.

Thirty-Two, who had been standing behind him, stepped back. Ninety-Five, to his right, immediately ducked behind One Hundred-One. Aside from the latter, who never seemed bothered by anything, everyone else backed away from Two.

Seeing the amused or horrified looks of the alter egos surrounding the platform, he realized something strange was happening.

Amused, Sora conjured a giant mirror in front of Two.

The latter nearly fell backward when he saw a ghost clinging to him, slowly emerging from the back of his neck.

“What the hell is this?!!”

« Chapter-266 | Index | Chapter-268 »

Author's note:

This marks the end of the transition/training arc!
Sora and his army are finally ready (…are they?) for the next stage of their journey. A new round of adventures begins now.

I’m writing this without following any reference or feedback—because to me, this story is something quite unique. A main character with real alter egos, each with their own purpose, path, and identity? That’s rare, and I love exploring it.

I’ve been tempted to show you each of their individual journeys in detail… but I know it would break the pacing and the structure of the main story. Instead, I’ll do my best to convey how each of them walks their own path without actually SHOWING it—for themselves, for Sora, and for the world.

And now, I’d love to hear from you.
What do you want to see? What would you enjoy most moving forward?

Honestly, I’ve been hesitant to even leave author’s notes lately. The pacing has been off, and I know I’ve fallen short.

I made promises I didn’t deliver on.
I failed to meet your expectations, and my own. I’m genuinely ashamed of that.

What I learned was that from now on, I wouldn't make any more promises.

To everyone who stuck with me through this, thank you.

For now, let's keep the streak of releases alive. (that's not a promise).