Instead of appearing in a new place, Synexus was sucked through the portal, and he saw the planet beneath him as he was pulled at unprecedented speeds. His trajectory proved their theory was correct.

  At first the board was simply a straight line of spaces, but then it split into two paths. After that it split into four more that were much more complicated than a straight line. Even the river path snaked across the land. At one point, a message passed between the class chosen saying the board took up the entire planet and one of them believed the end would either be on the other side of the planet or it would be when they made a full rotation. A theory that was being proven before Synexus’ eyes.

  Space after space flashed under him as he followed his current path toward the finish space. Countless boss battles, and the most perilous of terrain. His first thought was that the game would have taken much longer probably getting into tens of thousands of turns. Without this stroke of luck, they would have been stuck for years and for all he knew they still could be.

  His speed eventually slowed and then stopped. He looked around in annoyance. The finish space was the start space except now the word “Finish” glowed blue in the middle. Sadly, he didn’t have much time to think things over.

  Final Boss Battle Commencing in 3…

  2…

  1…

  A portal stretching from land to sky opened up like a scar. Multiple fingers started pushing their way through grabbing the edge of the portal attempting to widen it. Six hands finally grasped the edge and started to force it open like they were ripping a hole in fabric.

  Behind the six hands, four scarlet eyes gleaming in a fiery light could be seen staring through. Synexus looked up at the theatrics waiting for whatever was attempting to emerge.

  The six grey arms shot through pushing the long fingers deep into the ground. With handfuls of the ground grab onto too, the fiend started to pull itself into the world. Each arm revealed terrifying muscles underneath corpse grey skin that almost looked stretched too tightly.

  A roar made Synexus steady himself and seconds later the head of the boss pushed through. The four eyes went everywhere looking around at its new surroundings. A mouth that was unsettlingly long opened to reveal a set of sharpened copper-colored teeth. Another roar brought with it a putrid smell causing Synexus to put his arm over his face.

  Soon the monster crawled all the way through revealing the defined muscled torso of a humanoid, yet it walked with its legs and six arms like some kind of beast or spider. Beyond the two pairs of eyes, the head looked close to a humans in the front, but in the back it stretched too far and ended in a point. It almost looked like if you pulled the skin any tighter, it would peel from the skull.

  The familiar five-minute timer of the boss fights appeared in the sky, and he knew that if he didn’t defeat this titan in that time, then he would have to wait an extremely long time for anyone else to catch up unless someone got lucky like he did.

  One of the hands flung to grab him and it was nearly as if it were a flash of light. Synexus barely was able to dodge and when he did the force of the gust the movement caused knocked him back a few feet. Another hand lunged for him while he was on the back foot. He couldn’t dodge, but he wasn’t helpless. He used Instant Growth to grow a titan tree right in front of him harder than metal. It snapped in two as the hand collided with it, yet it served its purpose.

  The boss bellowed in pain and shook the hand that had been injured. Synexus used the moment to grow hydragon wings from his back using Body Transmutation and took to the sky. He drew Progress knowing he needed to get his sensors on the monster before him.

  If the boss stood up straight then it would have towered over Synexus even while he was in the sky, but the creature stayed on all eight limbs close to the ground leaving its bony spiny revealed on a broad back. He decided to take advantage of the weakness and deployed several highly explosive liing plant bombs across its back. Craters of blood and raw muscle were left finally causing the creature to look up.

  Synexus didn’t let up. One thing that Kumo had worked with him on was being relentless. She would never let even a second pass in a fight before her next attack was being formed and he was doing his best to progress. He flew down dodging two of the arms attempting to swat him out of the air as if he were a bug.

  Right before he landed on the creature’s back, he flipped over mid-air and drove Progress deep into the paper-thin skin to slow himself. A long cut started to spew deep red blood. As soon as he stopped, his hand met the cold skin, and genetic data started to stream in.

  Imp Crawler: 100%

  Imp Crawler: Normally these fiends are no more than two feet tall and often cause festering wounds with their sharp fingernails or fang-like teeth. This one has been kept in a cursed dimension altering its growth.

  Synexus didn’t really care about the description although it intrigued him that this one was different from the others of its kind. He only cared that Progress now had a genetic code to lock onto. The blade changed to be serrated and made of a purified silver. It was still imbedded in the wound and it started to sizzle causing another bellow from the monster who was trying to reach on its back with the awkwardly muscled arms.

  After trying to nearly a minute and Synexus causing untold damage with deep lacerations, the beast cried out and flipped onto its back. He barely rolled off before he got squished. While he rolled, he sensed his Progress Garden sphere and planted dozens of seeds under the monster. Mana exploded from him and Instant Growth activated once more to spear the boss with hundreds of blades of enhanced razor grass.

  A whimper exited the wide mouth before the beast fell limp. Synexus could sense it wasn’t dead yet, so he jumped up onto the chest making his way from the head to end things in on swift swing. He stood on the face right above the eyes, and he activated Enemy Transmutation to turn the skin and skull brittle. Progress stabbed down but never met its target. Right before the tip pierced through, one of the boss’ hands flashed from the ground and punched Synexus in the back.

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  Pain exploded through his whole body as he shot off into the boundary of the space. Electrical pulses damaged him further as he bounced off and hit the floor with enough force and velocity to leave a trench in the ground. His conscious teetered and he looked up to see only two minutes left on the timer. Something was definitely broken inside his body, and it hurt to move. He couldn’t stand and his health was under half from the one punch.

  All the other class chosen were watching the fight in the sky. Hope shined in their eyes with the chance that the game would finally be over. At first, they were all having fun, but then they realized the reality of the situation. They were being controlled. Forced to play a sick game. It was just like being in prison all over again for the class chosen freed from the Bubble. The game rules were strict, and it was clearly a twisted view of freedom. It was clear why they didn’t see any natives on the planet. Who could survive living under the rules of the game?

  Kumo stared up at the image and shook her head.

  “He let up. I always tell him not to let up for even a second. A big razor grass could have ended it from afar or a swipe to the creature’s throat.” She spoke out loud with no one else around to hide the fact her nails were biting into her palms. “Damnit, Synexus!”

  Then she calmed as she saw him move his head up and smile. That was his I-have-a-plan face. She had seen it dozens of times.

  Every class chosen gasped when they heard Synexus speak.

  “I use my artifact to swap spaces with player Kumo.”

  Portals appeared and they instantly swapped places. Kumo smiled and saw the massive fist coming her way. She used a Tempest Surge to redirect the blow into the ground, showering herself with dirt. A thunder cloud formed overhead, and she ascended through the rain with her hand out. She caught the first lightning bolt and then kicked off a cloud to shoot back down toward the beast. While she shot towards the boss like a meteor, the lightning condensed into a spear which she promptly threw straight at the boss’ head which was still weakened from Synexus. Still, she was angry at seeing her friend injured so she took out her fans and blasted a cloud blade down that perfectly hit the shaft of the spear launching it even faster.

  Within ten seconds of the swap, a hole burned clean through the boss’ head. Its body took a few seconds longer to understand what happened and then it crumpled crashing into the finish space.

  Trumpets woke the stunned audience, and confetti fell across the planet.

  Congratulations, Player Kumo has won the game!

  We are still looking for the top ten!

  The storm intensified. Kumo screamed into the sky.

  “We are not playing any longer! We beat your game, now free us!”

  The game is not over, and you are no longer playing. Please leave the board.

  “No! I won. That’s the end.”

  You are first. The top ten get prizes.

  “Then I want my prize now. My prize will be the end of this game. Take the current top ten if you must.”

  There was silence and everyone looked at the sky at the bizarre conversation between planetary rules and the young class chosen. Then there was a pop and a small being with wings fluttered up to Kumo.

  “Hey, hey, hey. You’re making Twinkle look bad. You can’t go against the rules. They’re the rules!”

  “I don’t care about the rules. We have been playing this game for weeks and it was clear that we were supposed to be here for much longer. I won, that should be enough.”

  “You didn’t enjoy Twinkle’s game?” The small creature’s eyes started to water, and it looked like glitter dust filling the air.

  “Not after two weeks. Someone died!”

  More glitter fell from Twinkle and scattered in the wind.

  “That’s what makes it so exciting! All the cool fights and the close calls. This has been the best round of Twinkle’s game ever. I don’t want it to the end, and these are Twinkle’s rules!”

  “But it’s also your rules that I get a prize. I want the game to end. Now.”

  “Ya’ sure Twinkle can’t get you wealth? Or love? Or power? Most champions ask for those.”

  “No. End the game. Now. I won’t ask again.”

  “Prizes will be awarded when the tenth person finishes and the game ends. Stupid. You just wasted your prize.”

  “Listen here Twinkle, I will end you right here and now. You saw what I just did to that thing.”

  “Yeah, that was pretty cool. The other guy almost died. I’m disappointed he didn’t, but then you came in with the whoosh, bam, bash! Super amazing. Still stupid for wasting your prize.”

  Wind raged and the small fae struggled to stay in one spot. Kumo lunged and caught the creature between her hands. Glitter fell between her fingers. Muffled sobbing could be heard.

  “You’re mean! Mean and stupid. Most people enjoy my game. You don’t know how to have fun!”

  Kumo sighed. “Look, Twinkle, it really was fun for the first few hours. We had a great time; your game is just too long. We have to get back to our world or else we’d stay here and continue to play. I don’t want to hurt you, and I will let you go as long as you end the game. We don’t need any other prizes”

  “Twinkle will be alone again with no one to play with.”

  “Maybe once we get our stuff done, we can come back and play more. Help you work out a game that is fun and doesn’t take as long. Or you can come with us.”

  “Really? Do you mean it?”

  “Sure, as long as you promise not to put everyone on our planet into some eternal game. How in the world did you do all of this anyways?”

  “I promise! I need to pack! WAIT, I don’t have anything. Let’s go!”

  “What about your family?”

  “Twinkle never knew them. Woke up here and the voice started talking to me in my head. Twinkle became a Game Master to play and make friends.”

  “Okay, end the game and we can all go together.”

  Kumo opened her hands and the fae hopped up and down in her palms with energized excitement.

  Kumo has been awarded her prize. The game has ended!

  Bright flashes all around Kumo and the fae brought all the players back to the same square for the first time in two weeks. Moments later the notifications appeared.

  Main Objective Complete: Complete the game!

  Bonus Objective Complete: Win the game!

  Hidden Objective Complete: Find a way to complete the game in under one year!

  Kumo walked with the fae on her shoulder over to Synexus who was being healed by Shell’s music.

  “You almost died…again!”

  “Sorry about that, but I know you had it. Who’s this?”

  “Twinkle! Your plants were so neat!”

  “Thanks!” Synexus grunted but held out his hand. The fae looked down and then extended their little hand to barely shake one finger.

  Twinkle: 100%

  Fairy Dust: 100%

  Mana Skin: 100%

  Species: Genesis Fairy of the Green Wave

  Name: Twinkle

  Class: Game Master LV 99

  “I’ve never met a fairy before.”

  “I’ve never played with a Zaxillian!”

  Synexus’ eyes flashed with surprise before he met Gene’s eyes sending him a warning.

  “Twinkle here has decided to come with us.”

  Just then the portal to the next floor spawned.