Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 52: Ch50. RE: [World Quest] (8) - Not holding back

Chapter 52: Ch50. RE: [World Quest] (8) - Not holding back

Sarissa barely had time to breathe before Miles lunged at her again, his scythe a blur of obsidian. She threw herself to the side to avoid the downward arc that Miles described with his blade, her feet skidding against the ruined pavement as the scythe carved through the air where her neck had been just seconds before.

He was toying with her, she could see it. His movements were too fluid, too precise as if he knew exactly how she would react. This wasn’t the same Miles she had fought beside before.

He wasn’t just faster, he was untouchable.

"You’ve been holding back all this time..." She said through gritted teeth, parrying a horizontal strike that sent her reeling. Miles said nothing in return, though.

The thought sent a wave of fury crashing through her, but she swallowed it down and forced herself to focus. She couldn’t afford distractions, not against him.

[You have accepted the quest: Sands of Time]

[Objective: Kill the Player Miles and retrieve the anomalous item]

The notification flickered in her vision, but she didn’t need the system to tell her what she already knew.

If she wanted to survive this, she had to kill him.

But what was that about the anomalous item? Was that the item she would be able to use, in order to level up her [Regression] skill, after all this time?

"Is this really how it’s going to be?" She bit out, flames igniting at her fingertips.

"It was always going to be this way." Miles tilted his head, the eerie glow of his mask’s eyes narrowing.

And then he vanished.

Sarissa barely had time to register his movement before she felt a presence behind her. She spun, lashing out with a wave of fire, but the moment her flames surged forward, Miles was gone again. A blur of black flickered in the corner of her vision, too fast.

Faster than he had ever been before.

A crushing force struck her side, sending her flying and punching the air out of her lungs. She hit the ground hard, rolling through the debris until she came to a stop, coughing a mouthful of blood. Her ribs screamed in protest, but she barely had time to react before Miles was on her again.

His scythe came down like a guillotine, and she barely twisted out of the way, the blade slicing through a few locks of her hair, and into the ground where her head had been. Sparks flew, molten cracks spreading along the pavement.

She lashed out with a burst of flame, forcing him back just enough to scramble to her feet.

’I can’t keep up...’

The realization turned her blood into ice. Even with all her regressions, all her experience, he was stronger.

"You’re hesitating." Miles chuckled, rolling his shoulders as he stood to his full height.

Sarissa’s fists clenched. She wasn’t hesitating. She was calculating. There had to be a way to turn this fight around, to exploit something. Anything.

Miles moved.

This time, she barely even saw him.

A sharp impact slammed into her gut, lifting her off her feet. The world blurred as she hurtled backward, crashing through a rusted vehicle. Pain lanced through her body as she coughed up more blood, barely managing to roll out of the wreckage before Miles’ scythe sliced the car in half.

Her vision swam. Her limbs felt sluggish. She forced herself upright, flames sputtering to life in her palms. She had fought for so long, died so many times, clawing her way through the nightmare that was The Glitch. She had survived everything thrown at her, refused to break, to yield.

But this was different.

Miles wasn’t just an obstacle. He wasn’t a fight she could just keep repeating until she won. He was the end of the line.

Even if she died and regressed again, she knew she was going to have to face him. Over and over again.

Something inside her cracked.

The idea of the guild, of players standing together, fighting for survival, it was a farce.

The moment she had let herself believe in it, it had been ripped away. Shinji had been right about one thing. The game was built on power, and she had spent far too long pretending it was not true.

Her vision sharpened. The pain in her body faded into the background as she bit her lip so hard it drew blood.

It was time to stop pretending.

’Yes... It’s time to stop playing house...’

A slow exhale left her lips as she lifted her gaze to meet Miles’. A different fire burned in her eyes now. A colder, sharper one.

"I see it now." Her voice was steady.

"See what?" Miles tilted his head, the mask’s expression inscrutable.

"It wasn’t just you. I’ve been holding myself back all this time." Sarissa straightened.

The flames in her palms didn’t just burn now. They roared, crackling with a darkness that hadn’t been there before. The fire spread, coiling around her arms, licking at her skin but never burning.

Miles stilled.

"Ah, so you finally get it." He laughed.

She didn’t give him time to say anything else, charging towards him with such strength that the already cracked asphalt beneath her feet broke completely, exploding in countless shards.

Fire exploded beneath her feet, propelling her forward, faster than she had ever moved before. She twisted midair, striking at Miles with a force that sent shockwaves through the air. Their weapons met in a deafening clash, her flaming blade locked against his scythe.

She wasn’t just fighting anymore. She was consuming.

The flames surged outward, swallowing everything, and turning the battlefield into a blazing inferno. Miles barely twisted away in time, his coat catching fire before he doused it with a flick of his wrist. But she was already moving again.

"I’m done playing defense. I’m not running anymore..."

Now, she was hunting.

Sarissa struck again. Her attacks were relentless, and her flames, unpredictable. She no longer fought like a player trying to survive. She fought like something else, something far more dangerous.

And for the first time since the battle started, Miles took a step back, the stitched lips carved in his mask spreading sideways in a malevolent grin.

"You’re finally getting interesting." His voice held a manic edge. "Let’s see how far you can go until you die."

He lunged, and the world became a blur of fire and steel.

They clashed, again and again, their movements a chaotic whirlwind of destruction. Sarissa’s flames consumed everything they touched, turning the battlefield into a blazing wasteland. Miles moved through it like a shadow, his scythe carving through the inferno like it was nothing.

Neither of them was holding back now.

The fight stretched on, each exchange more brutal than the last. Sarissa could feel it. The shift, the moment her power began to push past its limits, the moment she stopped thinking of anything else but victory.

[New Skill Acquired: Wonderland’s Inferno]

She barely processed the notification before her flames surged brighter, wilder, feeding off the very battlefield itself. The heat warped the air, turning steel to slag beneath their feet.

"That’s it." Miles grinned, his mask cracking at the edges.

Sarissa let out a slow breath.

This was what it took. Not alliances. Not strategy. Not guilds or friendships.

Just pure, absolute power.

There was no room for anything else.

As the flames rose higher, she finally accepted the truth. She was going to kill Miles.

And she was going to enjoy it.