[Faction War Begins]

The news of Black Poker’s current leader, Karens, going missing and suspected dead spread across the player forums almost instantly. 

The members of Black Poker did everything they could to contain the leak, but it was obvious they couldn’t stop the players.

A-Long, being a blabbermouth, had already posted his experience on the forums.

1st Commenter: [Karens is missing? How could he be missing? Isn’t he like a camp mentor or something? (confused)]

2nd Commenter: [Damn, really?]

3rd Commenter: [Yeah, now if you choose the hooligan profession at the start, like 80-90% are born in a district managed by Black Poker. They basically get auto-assigned and head straight to Black Poker’s base for training…]

4th Commenter: [Even small-time gangsters get training? What kind of training?]

5th Commenter: [I heard it’s based on your abilities. If you lean towards combat, they assign you tasks like patrolling, street fighting, collecting protection fees, or being a bodyguard. After completing enough tasks, you can exchange for weapons or get taught fighting techniques.]

6th Commenter: [Damn, that’s a legit gang operation.]

7th Commenter: [Don’t get sidetracked. What happened to Karens, @A-Long?]

A-Long: [Here’s what happened. I was leading some newbies today when suddenly the alarm at Black Poker’s base went off. It seemed like it came from Karens’s side. Everyone rushed out, so I grabbed a black car and chased after them. Then I saw a bunch of people fighting near one of Black Poker’s bases — and we were losing. I couldn’t take it, so I rammed the van straight in. Guess who I saw?]

8th Commenter: [Who?]

A-Long: [Players from the opposing faction, but I can’t remember their exact IDs. I do remember their faction mark was different.]

A-Long: [Later, when they broke through, a small car on the street suddenly lost control and charged at us. They managed to escape. We went back to the office to find Karens, but he was gone.]

9th Commenter: [Damn, is this…]

10th Commenter: [Faction war???]

Druid: [Did the players you saw all have the word “Starwatch” in their IDs?]

No One Stays Sane: [Yeah, I was there too and was about to mention it. They definitely did.]

Druid: [Then there’s no mistake. They really joined the Inspection Bureau. Sounds like Karens’s disappearance was caused by the Inspection Bureau people.]

11th Commenter: [But… why would they do that?]

12th Commenter: [Don’t forget, our Secret Church is probably considered a cult faction, naturally opposing the Inspection Bureau.]

13th Commenter: [Damn, are we about to have a faction war?]

14th Commenter: [Holy crap, faction war?]

15th Commenter: [Shit, I’m getting excited. Are we going to become the villains?]

16th Commenter: [Hey, don’t say that. Don’t forget the Inspection Bureau itself is shady too. We might not be the bad guys. Maybe we’re actually the ones setting things right?]

17th Commenter: [Yeah, that makes sense.]

18th Commenter: [Doesn’t anyone care about Karens? I’m obsessed with his looks and status. How can he just vanish? Where did he go? Was he captured, or is there not even a body left?]

19th Commenter: [No idea. Hope he’s okay.]

20th Commenter: [Hope he’s okay (praying)]

—-

At this moment, Karens, who the players were discussing, was in Ranen’s Divine Kingdom, struggling to break through the first level of the Dream Rift.

Ranen said that if Karens couldn’t break through the first level within three days and obtain the origin ability, then whatever happened next would have nothing to do with him.

Karens absolutely couldn’t accept that.

The flames of revenge were burning fiercely in his heart. He had been almost sleeplessly pushing himself to break through the first level of the Dream Rift these past two days.

Breaking through the first level of the Dream Rift seemed easy — it was just climbing stairs and enduring some mental corruption. Compared to the tests later on, it was much lighter. But in reality, most people got stuck at this step when they first entered.

After all, everyone’s willpower and mental strength are different. Some people can quickly shake off the effects of mental corruption after passing through the fog of insane murmurs on the stairs, but others get trapped in madness and can’t pull themselves out.

When Edmund and Archie first started, they were stuck at this stage for more than half a year, only gradually approaching the platform after adapting to the level of corruption.

But Karens, in the past two days, had been pushing himself to the brink of death, resting almost not at all, and throwing himself fully into breaking through the first level of the Dream Rift.

Ranen, who had no experience in this area, had no idea how reckless Karens’s actions were. Ogre couldn’t understand humans either. The only ones who might have known—Edmund and Archie—weren’t available to contact Ranen in the past two days. So, Karens continued this self-destructive path under the watch of two unreliable gods.

The first bout of madness came quickly.

With no one to guide him, Karens didn’t leave the Dream Rift before his flashlight went out. He was soon soaked in the mist and lost all rationality.

Ranen and Ogre could only watch as Karens suddenly sat up on the bed woven from vines and burst into manic laughter, ramming his head into walls like a lunatic, gnawing on stones, then breaking into tears while covering his face, grabbing the leg of a passing nurse and shouting, “Mom!”

Emmmmm…

Ranen slowly realized something was wrong and stared at Ogre in shock. “What are we supposed to do in this situation?”

Ogre was silent for a moment, then revealed the same bewildered look.

The two non-humans: Wait, going through the Dream Rift has side effects like this?

Ranen’s Dream Rift was completely different from that of his followers. He hadn’t encountered any difficulty on the stairway—actually, he could even walk through the mist. His experience wasn’t applicable at all. As for Ogre, who might not even be human, it was unclear whether he had a Dream Rift to begin with.

So neither of them had any idea what to do now.

At this moment, a thought sparked in Ranen’s mind. He remembered that when Edmund and Archie had fallen into madness before, they seemed to react to the little light dots inside his Dream Rift.

Maybe it’s worth a try?

With that thought, Ranen didn’t return to the Dream Rift. Instead, one of the glowing dots from the Dream Rift appeared in front of him.

This was a new feature he had discovered recently. Originally, the little glowing dots inside the Dream Rift weren’t supposed to appear in the real world, but maybe because his Divine Kingdom wasn’t truly in the real world—it existed in the rift between reality and dreams—the dots could show up here.

Ranen gently pinched the light that belonged to Karens. In an instant, Karens, who had been acting out in madness, froze completely.

But he was only motionless—he hadn’t yet snapped out of the madness.

Ranen thought for a few seconds and decided to try the ability he had used at the banquet. He recalled the feeling from before and gradually let his consciousness probe into the light dot.

When he opened his eyes again, part of Ranen’s consciousness was now able to control Karens’s body. That strange feeling of becoming two people struck him once more. At this moment, Karens suddenly spoke:

“My Lord?”

“You’re awake?” Ranen withdrew from that sensation and looked at Karens, who seemed confused. He curiously asked, “What did it feel like just now?”

“…When I was in the mist, I felt like I completely lost control of my mind,” Karens said quietly. “It was like a ship lost at sea, not knowing which way was the right direction. I could sense what was happening in reality, but I couldn’t control my body, until just now, when you…”

Karens hesitated for a moment. “A powerful and commanding will descended into my body, as if it pulled my consciousness back from the edge of madness.”

Divine descent has this kind of function too? Ranen thought for a moment. “You’d better rest for a bit.”

“No, I don’t have time.” Karens pressed his lips together. Just thinking about what those people had done to him filled him with constant hatred and pain, endlessly stabbing at his mind.

An eye for an eye, blood for blood—that had always been the gang’s motto. And Karens had always been particularly vengeful. The humiliation of being oppressed and threatened gnawed constantly at his spine, leaving him unable to find peace.

“My Lord, forgive me for being presumptuous, but if I fall into madness again, could you…”

“I can,” Ranen said, “but I can’t guarantee it’ll work every single time. You’ll have other chances to get revenge. Why gamble your life like this?”

Karens chuckled softly and said, “This is how I’ve always lived.”

In his line of work, Karens had survived by relying on just two words: endurance and ruthlessness.

Endure when facing enemies too strong to defeat—like when the Inspection Bureau had pinned him down and forced a helmet onto him.

Be ruthless—toward others, and toward himself.

If he missed this chance for revenge, Karens didn’t know when he’d get another.

Without resting, he stepped back into the stairway—and once again descended into madness.

Divine descent, clarity, madness.

Time passed, little by little. Without any breaks, his exhausted mind almost went insane with just one step into the Dream Rift, then Ranen would pull him back. Toward the end, Karens’s consciousness was starting to blur.

When it got unbearable, Ranen would force a white flower to bloom and knock Karens into sleep. After an hour, Karens would wake again and return to the Dream Rift.

It was almost like a grudge-holding wolfhound.

Ranen quietly complained to Ogre. He could tell that by now, only the thought of revenge was supporting Karens through this near-insane behavior.

Ogre glanced over at Karens and said, “I think he looks pretty excited.”

Ranen: Huh? Really?

—-

Ogre pondered for a moment. “It feels like it’s not just revenge—it’s a hunt.”

Hearing this, Ranen looked at Karens, who had just closed his eyes again. Karens had only just woken from sleep and was already reentering the Dream Rift. Hidden beneath his gloomy and sharp expression, there was a faint trace of excitement.

A memory of Karens from the psychological therapy room came to Ranen’s mind. 

At that time, Karens had still been weak. Facing transcendents who could easily crush him to death, he had no choice but to endure.

Even recently, when he encountered transcendents again, he had still been forced to endure.

So this time, was it not just about rushing to get revenge, but a long-awaited act of retribution he had been dreaming of?

Karens had no idea how much time had passed. Ever since he began practicing entering the Dream Rift, time seemed to have lost its meaning, and he was trapped daily between madness and clarity.

Until now, Karens finally set foot on the first platform.

The maddening fog gradually faded away, replaced by the trial of the first platform.

[Fear]

Karens already knew from Ranen what the first trial would be, so he had prepared himself mentally. Even so, he still felt a little lost—because he wasn’t sure what exactly he feared.

The next moment, the misty, dark platform before him suddenly disappeared, replaced once again by flames and monsters.

…Huh?

Screams and wails pierced his ears. Karens found himself standing on a street, unable to react for a while, until a burning beam suddenly fell from a building above and struck him hard on the head.

“Ahhhh!”

The realistic pain assaulted him. Karens gritted his teeth against the searing pain on one side of his face. Before the burning wood could crush his body, he rolled on the ground, barely managing to avoid it.

But his face really hurt. Why is the pain so vivid? Isn’t this supposed to be just a trial?

Clutching his face and gasping for breath, Karens felt blood drip onto the ground. At this moment, a sound cut through the air behind him.

“Boss, watch out!”

Karens was shoved forcefully from behind. As he turned around, he saw a familiar face standing where he had just been—a gang member who was pierced through the chest by a grotesque creature.

He recognized the face—it was a young gang member who used to follow him around. His name was Marcus… or something like that.

“Run! Boss Karens, run!” Marcus shouted. “Black Poker is finished! The boss is dead! The city’s done for! Get out of here!”

What is he talking about?

Karens could only stare as Marcus was tackled to the ground by the monster and torn apart. His mind went blank. He recognized the creature—it was something he had seen before at the banquet. A ghoul, right?

What the hell is going on?

Instinctively, Karens started running, heading toward the city’s exit. Along the way, he saw countless civilians being chased by monsters. He saw flames engulfing the buildings, saw houses collapsing—just like the end of the world.

And then he remembered.

He had seen this scene before.

Isn’t this the disaster that had struck Arkham City? Why has he returned here?

Just running wasn’t going to get him out of here fast enough. Karens found an abandoned car by the roadside. The back seat was splattered with blood—he didn’t need to guess what had happened there. 

Karens knew he was supposed to overcome this trial, but somehow, his mind went completely blank. Only one thought filled his heart: escape this place, survive.

The car roared to life. Karens barreled through the streets, not stopping for anyone, and sped straight out of Arkham City.

A minute after he drove away, a thick fog began to rise around the city.

After driving for some distance, Karens instinctively stopped the car on a small hillside. He got out and looked back toward Arkham City.

Arkham City—is gone.

“How… how is this possible…” Karens muttered, staring wide-eyed at the empty wasteland where a city was supposed to be.

No one would remember this city anymore—except for the ghosts who fled from it.

His past, his present, his future—

All buried with that city. From then on, Karens would wander in the darkness, lost, like a walking corpse—until the day he found a reason to live again.

That reason was revenge.

No—no!

Arkham City hasn’t been destroyed!

One day, waking up beside a garbage can in the alley of some unfamiliar city, Karens suddenly clutched his head tightly and smashed it against a nearby wall, trying desperately to wake himself up.

This is just a trial! It’s fake! It’s fake!

Because the real Arkham City has—

It has been saved.

Yes, Karens remembered it clearly. He clung to that memory like a drowning man grasping at the last straw.

A figure bathed in radiant light had appeared. That figure had closed the doorway, sealing the monsters behind it, cutting off the connection between the two worlds.

That figure—his God— saved Arkham.

*Crack—*

The scene before him shattered like a broken mirror, splitting into countless shards. Gasping for breath, Karens came back to his senses. He had returned from the Dream Rift to the Divine Kingdom.

Facing Ranen and Ogre’s gazes, Karens instinctively reached out his hand, palm up. A wolf symbol made of blood-red liquid appeared above it and then shot outward, vanishing into the distance.

Karens could faintly sense where the wolf symbol had gone. In that instant, he understood his Origin Ability.

[Blood Hunt]:  

Anyone who harms Karens will be marked with an invisible blood mark. Karens can track the enemy’s position in real time. He can initially mark up to three enemies; only by eliminating a marked enemy can a new mark be created.

Moreover, if Karens attacks a marked enemy, the blood mark will manifest physically. Over time, it will slowly corrode the enemy’s body—until death.

Ranen stared blankly at the blood wolf pattern in Karens’s hand, murmuring,  

“The Blood Avenger?”

“My Lord, what did you say?” Karens asked in confusion.

“Nothing,” Ranen replied, feeling a wave of complicated emotions. Looking at Karens’s sharp yet handsome face, it was hard for him to reconcile this man with the disfigured gang boss from his memories.

The Blood Avenger—this was the nickname players in his past life gave to an NPC.  

This NPC was the one who triggered the main storyline quest “The Fall of the Inspection Bureau.”

He was a gang leader with half his face disfigured. It was said he had built his empire from nothing, his origins shrouded in mystery.  

No one knew his real name; all they knew was that he had a terrifying face that could stop a crying child and a voice as hoarse as a crow.

The blood wolf symbol Karens had just summoned was the signature mark of this NPC, and the reason why players called him the Blood Avenger.  

Once you crossed him, you couldn’t hide from his revenge—not even to the ends of the earth.

And the most famous act of revenge he ever carried out was, without a doubt, the retaliation against the Inspection Bureau—though no one ever knew why he did it.

Holy crap, he was Karens???

Ranen had known Karens for so long and hadn’t even realized it.

Well, maybe it wasn’t too surprising—after all, in his past life, he hadn’t interacted much with that NPC.

Ranen coughed awkwardly and said, “Alright, you’ve successfully passed the first level and awakened your Origin Ability. As promised, the command for this operation is now yours. You can go and plan how you want to take revenge.”

“No need,” Karens grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. “I’ve already got a plan.”

“Their next move will definitely be to target the survivors from the banquet.”

Karens said it with certainty.

“They’re after me because they suspect I’m a puppet put in place by the Secret Church to control Black Poker, and that banquet was the key event marking the change in leadership.”

“After the banquet, I wiped out all surface-level traces that could connect back to you. But there’s one thing I couldn’t erase—the survivors.”

Those survivors—those were the ones Karens hadn’t been able to silence.  

In fact, if he hadn’t used Ranen’s name back then to bluff his way through, Black Poker might have been crushed by the combined forces of the other gangs.

But things were different now.  

After the recent catastrophe, Black Poker’s territory and power had expanded significantly, while the other underground forces had weakened.  

Arkham’s underground world, once a landscape of one dominant power among many strong rivals, now truly had an undisputed king.

Karens’s position as leader was firmly established—no longer needing Ranen’s reputation to bolster him.  

And now that Black Poker was almost synonymous with the Secret Church, whether or not he borrowed Ranen’s name hardly mattered anymore.

“You want to silence those survivors?” Ranen asked.

“No,” Karens shook his head. “That would be a waste—and it would easily provoke backlash from the other groups. Sure, individually they’re no match for Black Poker, but if they band together, even we would have to be cautious.”

“So why not use this force to crush the Inspection Bureau instead?”

Ranen curled his lips into a faint smile.  

“Looks like you’ve got it all planned out. Then this faction battle—I’ll leave it to you.”

“Don’t let me down, Karens.”

“Yes,” Karens took off his hat and gave Ranen a slight bow, his voice hoarse.  

“I will wash away this humiliation with the blood of our enemies.”

—-

Job and his team were planning to reuse an old trick—to extract the truth of what really happened at that banquet from the mouths of the survivors.

At this point, Edie’s ability came in handy again.  

In a modern society, an origin ability like Cyber Phantom was almost overpowered.  

Combined with his hacking skills, it made him a formidable tool for gathering intelligence.

When Edie activated his ability, he could briefly control various electronic devices.  

Anywhere connected to the internet became his eyes and hands.  

His only weakness was the huge mental strain it caused—and because Edie’s willpower wasn’t very strong, he was still stuck at the first level of awakening, so he could only use his ability at crucial moments.

Still, his regular hacking skills were more than enough most of the time.

One day later, Edie had compiled a full list of the crime bosses who attended the banquet along with their addresses.  

After cross-referencing it with those who had died during the banquet and those who later died in gang wars, he finally narrowed it down: there were only seven survivors left in Arkham City.

“Seven people, huh?” Job looked at the list. “Let’s see which one is easiest to approach.”

“Working on it,” Edie said as his fingers flew over the keyboard.  

Soon, the screen split into multiple windows, each displaying a live feed of different people going about their activities—obviously real-time surveillance.

These crime bosses were heavily guarded, making it difficult to get close to them.  

On top of that, news of Black Poker’s leader’s death had reached them, prompting them to tighten their security even further, making it even harder to make a move.

Luckily, another day later, just when Edie was about to lose patience and use his origin ability, an opportunity appeared.  

One of the survivors, struggling with cash flow problems, had to send out more of his men for work, creating a temporary security gap.

Job’s team held a quick meeting.

“Same plan as last time?” Dana asked.

Job nodded. “Yeah, same as before. Destiny is in My Hands, you guys handle stalling them outside.”

The Starwatch Squad exchanged bitter looks.

If it weren’t for the fact that the first part of their linked quest—investigating Black Poker—was already marked as complete (and had given them a pretty good reward), they honestly would have backed out by now.

But the second part of the mission had already been issued, and there was no backing out anymore.

[Second Linked Quest: Survivors of the Blood Banquet]

[Objective: Piece together the truth of the banquet from the survivors.]

[Quest Rank: Extremely Dangerous]

Holy crap, it jumped straight to “extremely dangerous” on the second stage.

Destiny is in My Hands and the others were torn between excitement and fear.  

In the last mission, every one of them had taken a bullet, and even after two days of rest, they had only recovered about half their HP—it was terrifying.

“For this mission,” Job continued, “Dana, Edie, Eunice—you three come with me.”

Edmund pointed at himself, looking confused. “What about me?”

“You’ll stay here and guard the base,” Job said.  

In reality, he had already spoken to Edmund privately beforehand.  

There were two reasons: one, someone truly needed to stay behind to protect the base; and two, Edmund was still too inexperienced, and Job didn’t want him to be exposed to scenes like this too early.

Of course, in the end, this was used to mislead Destiny is in My Hands’s group; Job didn’t trust them.

But Destiny is in My Hands’s group didn’t realize the Inspection Team suspected them.  

Hearing Job’s instructions, they thought he was finally beginning to trust the intel they provided.

Soon, everyone moved into action, taking two cars and heading toward the crime boss’s location.

The location was on the outskirts of the city, with few people around.  

It was quite a distance from Job’s base, and halfway there, the Inspection Team’s car even stopped for a two-minute break.  

Dana got out, her face expressionless, and returned shortly after, looking completely nonchalant.

During the drive, Destiny is in My Hands kept checking the forums, constantly refreshing threads and looking at the latest replies, his face full of worry.

“Captain, it’s fine,” said Fatty easily, his voice relaxed.  

“Didn’t the analysts in the guild say the players would only start paying attention and organizing a response after at least the third attack?”

“The last time we raided Black Poker’s territory, just as we were about to retreat, we got intercepted by a player,” Destiny is in My Hands said with a sigh.  

“That player was a bit well-known too—called A-Long. He even posted on the forums before.  

I’m worried players might have already picked up on our actions. Isn’t the forum still speculating about a possible faction war?”

“Come on, how could a faction war even happen?” Fatty rolled his eyes.  

“Our combat power isn’t even close to balanced. How many players do we have here? And how many do they have? If it really turned into a faction war, they could drown us with spit alone. The officials aren’t stupid enough to allow that. Besides, aren’t the other players from our Starwatch Guild who joined the Secret Church still quiet? No news at all.”

“You’re right,” Destiny is in My Hands said, finally relaxing a little under Fatty’s persuasion.  

“Maybe I’m just overthinking it.”

After all, a faction war would be such a large-scale event that there was no way it could be hidden from the players.  

And since they could monitor the forum at any time to keep tabs on player activity, the chance of being ambushed was low.

Soon the car started moving again, heading toward the city’s edge.  

This crime boss’s base wasn’t in a residential area—it was underground beneath a small workshop.  

The surrounding streets were all under their gang’s control.  

Even the vagrants and loafers casually hanging around could be informants.

According to the plan, just like last time, the Starwatch Squad would find a way to attract the attention of these lookouts.  

Meanwhile, Edie would hack into the surveillance system.  

In a modern society, going blind without monitors was a huge disadvantage.  

With the cameras hacked, Job’s team could sneak inside and head straight for the boss’s office.

At first, everything went smoothly.  

Destiny is in My Hands’s team set a fire nearby, drawing all the lookouts away to put it out.  

Edie tapped a few keys and hacked into the surveillance system.  

Job and his team moved swiftly, walking to a phone booth.  

Following the code Edie had previously uncovered, they punched in a specific number.

The phone booth quickly transformed into an elevator, carrying them downward.

Below was the crime boss’s underground hideout.  

Inside, Job’s team quickly changed outfits.  

When they stepped out of the elevator, they looked almost indistinguishable from the surrounding gang members.

It was just a bit strange—why are there so few people at this base?

Edie whispered, “I heard it’s because the operation isn’t going well. Most of the people have been sent out to collect protection fees.”

These days, even being in a gang wasn’t easy.

Job shook his head, pushing aside the random thoughts.  

Following the route they had previously mapped out, he walked straight toward the central room, even pretending to knock on the door.

A voice from inside said, “Come in.”

Job and the others entered.  

A middle-aged man with a big belly was sitting behind a desk, seemingly reviewing some bills.  

When he heard them come in, he looked up at them.  

A trace of astonishment flashed across his face before he quickly asked, “And you are?”

Job said, “Sorry, we’re here to ask you about something.”

The middle-aged man’s expression quickly returned to calm as he said, “I thought he was joking. Didn’t expect it to be real.”

Job sensed something was wrong. “What are you talk—”

Almost in the next instant, the man ducked behind his desk.

At the same time, Job heard Dana and Edie shout:

“Get back!”

“Captain! Bomb!”

*Boom—*

The office floor exploded instantly, and a flash of white light filled Job and the others’ vision.

At the same moment, outside, while still playing cat and mouse with the lookouts busy putting out the fire, the Starwatch Squad received a system notification:

[Faction War Initiated]

[Detected extreme imbalance in player numbers; adjustment mechanism activated: Players on the Inspection Bureau faction, as long as they are outside of NPC line of sight, will have increased self-healing, gain 10 armor points, and recover 1 health point and 1 magic point every five minutes. If they die after leaving NPC line of sight, they can revive after 10 minutes. The event ends when all players on one side die simultaneously or all allied NPCs participating in the faction war are killed.]

[Event Rewards: Defeating one faction NPC grants 5,000 EXP and 500 faction honor points. Defeating an enemy player grants 500 EXP and 5 faction honor points.]

[Final Victory Rewards: Each player will receive 5,000 EXP, 5 skill points, 3 attribute points, and a faction shop voucher.]

[Current Player Count: 4 vs 400]

The Starwatch Squad: ???

Good lord.  

They thought the numbers were too skewed for a fight to even happen—but the game pulled off this kind of crazy move?

Destiny is in My Hands’s face changed.  

“This is bad—starting a faction war means—”

Before he could finish, a loud explosion roared beneath his feet!

It is a trap!

On top of a tall building, Karens stood with a telescope, watching the black smoke rise.  

The corners of his mouth curled into a smile.

“This is only the beginning.”

—-

Within the Divine Kingdom, through Karens, Ranen had planted a “Seed of Spirituality” into reality—  

a plant that only true believers could see.  

After Ranen’s modifications, the seed had grown a structure resembling an eye at its top, curiously observing the unfolding scene.

It was time to see just how much power the players could show against the Inspection Bureau NPCs.