With ten minutes left in the competition, two players came over to see the leaders, but not to chat. Both had managed to earn faint wings on their backs, but neither could challenge Max or Nico for the top spots, no matter how lucky they got in the last few minutes.

The two were Lord PockiPock and Callsign Flood, two of the top streamers, and coincidentally, just out of the running for the top 5 positions. One last death wouldn’t push them out of the top ten though, and they had a plan to end their stream on a high note.

“I, Lord PockiPock am here to challenge the Blood Goddess to a Duel. I will redeem my name and my honor here today.” The first one began, making Max snicker.

If he recalled correctly, the other soldiers were saying that the last time they dueled in a game she beat him 197-0 and made him rage quit the game entirely, moving his stream to a newly released first-person shooter.

“SlumDogRaider, I challenge you to a duel.” Callsign Flood said more simply, and the four combatants spread out, making room for them to fight.

Both of the streamers had taken the Paladin class, combining offensive holy magic with good defense and swords. In a stand-up fight that theoretically put Max at a disadvantage, but he had long since given his avatar a powerful staff that could take sword strikes without being damaged.

“The staff is too boring, try this instead,” Nico called, throwing Max a small black item.

It was an extendable baton that he could channel his spells through, like a stun baton that many police forces used, but with Arcane Magic. This was much more suitable to his spell casting than fighting with a long staff would be.

Max flicked his wrist, extending the baton while his light blue butterfly wings flickered in the breeze. His opponent wasn’t one for waiting though, he was a warrior class, and being at range put him at the disadvantage.

Plus, his ratings had been dipping over the last quarter and he needed something to draw in more viewers. An epic Paladin on Mage duel would be just the thing to get him situated as one of the top streamers in the new game.

He quickly activated [Blade Flurry], a Paladin skill designed to break through the defenses of a Mage-type class, but Max was ready for the basic opener, parrying all the strikes with his baton. Max moved closer, driving his shoulder into the armored chest of his opponent and knocking him back, then followed it up with a [Arcane Barrage] sending a wave of small magical balls at the Paladin.

Callsign Flood rolled to the side, dodging most of the attack and the crowd scattered, realizing a bit too late that they had gotten too close to the fight. Max sent a few more spells out before the Paladin activated a charge skill and rushed into him with a flying leap.

Max dodged the sword and grabbed Callsign Flood’s right wrist, throwing him over the shoulder with assistance from his baton. But he forgot that the deadly little stick was charged with [Arcane Blast]. When it made contact between his opponent’s legs to help flip him over Max’s shoulder, Callsign Flood made a noise that no man’s vocal cords were intended to make. Even the audio processor of the game didn’t seem to know how to deal with it, and the voice didn’t come out in the deep and gruff tone that he had assigned to his avatar.

The moment he hit the ground, Max followed up with a strike of the baton to his other head, knocking him out cold and sending him to respawn.

Satisfied with his victory, Max turned to see how the other duel was going, only to find that Nico had Lord PockiPock in an armbar, and was currently attempting to drown him in a mud puddle.

“Go ahead say it again. I dare you, call me short stuff one more time.” She complained as she pushed his face further into the mud and the crowd laughed.

“Isn’t this what happened last time as well?” Max asked a spectator, after reading a few minds near him.

“This is exactly what happened last time, almost word for word, but last time there was no mud puddle and all she could do was spawn camp him.” The player agreed.

[One Minute remaining. Players will be ejected after the next death.]

The game’s announcement made Nico sigh and release her opponent, but she didn’t let him get up, she just moved on to kicking him while he curled up and tried to defend himself. Her health was under half, so he must have put up a pretty solid fight before she took him down, but things didn’t end well for him.

There was no self-harm mechanism in the game, so he was at her mercy until the timer went off, unless he gave up his spot and exited the game early, forfeiting the match. The others were just starting to feel sorry for him when Nico relented and helped him to his feet, one second before the end of the match when they all were returned to the game lobby to log out.

“I would say that was a shocking twist there at the end, but as all the viewers who watch the streams already know, that was exactly what we should have expected to happen.” The announcer is saying as Max logs out, seeing the replay of Nico smashing her opponent’s face in the mud on the large screen above them.

“Now that we’re done, I will remind you all, that this is not the only way to play. Other than timed deathmatch, there are points battles, zombie horde mode, and even single-player battles against pre-recorded combatants. At no cost, you can record your finest performances in the system registry and players from all over the Galaxy can challenge a reproduction of yourself at that point, with monthly prizes being awarded to the top recordings.” The announcer declares, making the crowd roar in joy.

After twelve long hours, they were mostly as exhausted as the players, except for an intelligent few who snuck in a nap during the dull hours between the 6th and 9th hour of gameplay.

“We will now ask that all the players come up to the stage for the official announcement of your final rankings, and a replay of today’s highlights with interviews from our most entertaining contestants.”

Hundreds of weary players trudged up to the stage, their bodies were well rested from laying asleep in the VR pods, but their minds were totally worn out from half a day of gaming. After a moment to recover though, they began putting their public personas back on to match either their online persona or the character that they had chosen to cosplay for the event.

The game launch was a live-streamed show, as well as a contest. For those in the entertainment industry, appearance was everything, and having their fans see them not at their best was hard on their public image, which in turn meant hard on their income.