The Return of Purge Day (2)

One look at Mist's character was enough to tell he'd come thoroughly prepared.

A gleaming dark-violet mineral wrapped his entire body, glittering with every movement. It was Netherite gear — the absolute strongest equipment available in the Minecraft version Rena World ran on. The final-tier set, one full step above diamond.

It sounded impressive, but the raw difference wasn't actually that enormous. A diamond sword dealt 7 attack damage; a Netherite sword dealt 8. A gap of just one point. Once you factored that into DPS, though — damage per second — the story changed. A single hit might only differ by one, but stack those hits over a fight and the gap became substantial.

The armor, by comparison, shared identical base stats. Netherite's real advantages were knockback resistance, higher durability, and the fact that it wouldn't melt in lava.

And more than anything, it just looked cool. Honestly, diamond armor sets are kind of tacky. They're easy to get, so half the server's walking around in them.

Look around. Every dog and his brother was wearing a full diamond set. But the people sporting that subtle dark-violet glow of Netherite? Me, Mist, Mayo, Endu, Oh-ha — a genuine handful. In the current meta, it was the mark of an absolute top-tier player. Just seeing it made people feel the pressure; streamers in diamond gear were already edging away, putting distance between us.

"Last week you got lucky. You need to understand that."

"You know how pathetic it sounds when you say that yourself, right?"

He was older than me, sure — but who gave him permission to talk down to me like that? I could have called him out, but that would just make me look petty. Better to take the casual speech and let him come off as the condescending old-timer.

"Ha! You really think you can beat me with the same gear? Seriously?"

"Oh, please. It's not the same gear. I earned mine through my own effort. More than half of yours got handed up to you as tribute, Mist."

"……"

That one hit the mark. Mist went quiet for a beat, clearly stung. Sensing the tension, the streamers around us widened the circle, giving us more space. I shot Mayo a quick glance — a signal to stick to the plan.

"Uwaaaaah!"

"Kyaaaaah!"

Rena-ttang's signal had already dropped. Streamers who'd been eyeing each other warily charged all at once, weapons swinging. Through the chaos, Mist's voice cut through.

Wait — was this guy actually grinding his teeth right now?

"Let's see if you're still this cocky after I take that gear off you!"

He didn't even give me time to answer. He just lunged.

On paper, we were evenly matched. Netherite swords hammered against Netherite armor in a furious exchange. Viewer counts climbed in lockstep with the intensity of the fight. Kim Hak-do had other content scheduled and wasn't participating today, and Oh Yeong-jun was still too green to stand out — so every eye on the server was locked on us.

"My turn to show you how it tastes. Courtesy of my sword — Discipline Blade."

"Ugh, lame. At least name it something with some style."

"Uwaaah!"

That one got under his skin. He charged like a raging bull. A crushing blow smashed into my armor, then a backstep — and in one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fluid motion he swapped weapons and loosed an arrow that slammed into my helmet.

Fwoosh—!

"Huh?!"

A bow enchanted with Flame. Fire erupted across my vision, blotting out half the screen. The distance I'd been tracking warped and twisted.

Clang-clang-clang—!

"Where do you think you're going?!"

The fight that had been dead even tilted hard in an instant. I swung my sword blindly at empty air, desperately trying to keep him from closing in while I conserved what health I had left — buying time until the fire burned out.

But Mist was no pushover. Like the Minecraft veteran he was, he read my situation perfectly and pressed the attack without mercy. There was no window to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swap my armor for wings. The second I tried a control like that, he'd exploit the sudden drop in defense and go for a finishing blow. With only half my health remaining, it was a gamble I couldn't afford.

"Keep running your mouth like last time! Huh?!"

Mist had the momentum now, shoving hard in a frenzy of excitement. Watching him, I smiled — genuinely amused.

The Flame enchantment hadn't been part of my plan, but everything else was unfolding exactly as I'd designed it.

"Maybe don't use such strong language. It just makes you look weak."

"What?!"

A well-known internet meme, served right back at him as a clean counterpunch. I didn't even need to check his stream to know how red his face must have gone on camera.

Sure enough, Mist's words and movements got rougher. I was chugging golden carrots as fast as I could, but one more string of critical hits and I'd be in real danger. Even so, I kept a cold eye on the timing — and instead of more food, I selected a different item from my inventory.

Gulp, gulp—!

Unlike the food before, a small glass bottle now sat in my hand. Mist, too worked up to notice the difference, never saw it coming. The effect hit immediately.

And that wasn't all. The potions I downed next stacked buff icons across the upper-left corner of the screen.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deliberately stood still and took Mist's attacks head-on.

"Wh-what the hell is this?"

Mist was stunned. He'd calculated the remaining health and poured in more than enough damage to kill me — and I was still standing, perfectly fine. Then something clicked. He jolted backward several steps in alarm.

"Ah, how pitiful. A mere mortal born into the same era as me."

"Don't tell me you've already got potions brewing?! That's cheating!"

Mist knew about potions — he was a Minecraft veteran, after all. But gearing up in full Netherite had already taken everything he had. He simply hadn't had the bandwidth to worry about brewing on top of that.

I was different. Everything I'd poured sweat into — regular streams and off-stream grinds alike — was living inside this character right now. This wasn't some hollow achievement built on treating small-time streamers like slaves and collecting tribute the way Mist did.

Words like outlaw and loan shark flickered uncomfortably through my mind for a second. I ignored them. I'd earned my money and my gear through honest work. Damn right I had.

Mist shouted about cheating and tried to run — but it was already too late. With Potion of Swiftness II in my system, I was forty percent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠faster. The moment the Flame enchantment's fire died out, I closed the gap in a flash and drove a clean hit straight into his back.

"Urgh!"

"A scar on the back is a swordsman's shame!"

"What are you, Zoro?!"

Even mid-flee, Mist managed a comeback — but the fight was already decided. Think about it. A Netherite sword's base attack was 8. Potion of Strength II alone added 6 on top of that. And the multi-directional speed boost from Potion of Swiftness II? The stat gap was even more overwhelming than it had been on the first Purge Day.

"Once those potion effects wear off—!"

Mist scrambled to buy time, but I just smiled and casually pulled out my spare potion stock from the inventory, showing it off.

"Still got plenty. My big sister Lucy's a huge fan of that Suriname movie, so she built a whole drug farm underground."

"Uwaaaaah!"

He'd been trying to hold his composure to the end, but the absurdity of the situation finally broke him. Mist screamed and thrashed. Two more sword hits later, the instinct to protect his precious Netherite gear kicked in — he yanked out his wings and tried to take off.

Too slow.

"Ryuoh! Devour my enemies!"

My heavily enchanted bow punched clean through Mist's back just as he lifted off. His character plummeted, a miserable freefall that felt like a perfect portrait of his current situation.

The message cut clean across the world chat, and for a moment the fighting around us stopped. Nobody said it out loud, but everyone knew the duel between me and Mist was the strongest storyline of this Purge Day.

In that cold silence, I laughed awkwardly and said:

"Ahaha. Won again."

December 24th. Christmas Eve.

I'll say it one more time — I'm greedy. I wasn't about to hand over the protagonist's seat without a fight.