'Good luck?! What does he mean by that?'
The twins pressed their chests together, held hands, and shouted.
"ZONE, NOW!"
Luke still didn't understand what was happening, while Zhiang started to panic.
"No no no, not this..."
A massive system screen appeared in front of all of them, but it wasn't Luke's, it belonged to the twins.
[ Act 1 ]
[ The jester and the princess... ]
[ Generating scenario ]
'Sce...nario?'
Luke, Zhiang, and the twins disappeared from the alley they were in, and were sent into a space that the twins' ability had created. A throne room of a massive palace, filled with golden ornaments, tall pillars, vivid stained glass, and paintings spread all across the walls.
Luke and Zhiang stood near the exit door, while the twins were close to the throne.
"Zhiang, what is this?"
"A zone."
"What do you mean-"
"I don't know... each one is different, no point explaining, but in general, they follow a script, and we have to play our role. That said, we need to adapt now!"
"And another thing... what are these clothes we're wearing?"
Luke only realized it then, his clothes were now those of a court jester, and the twins were dressed like a prince and a princess.
"Jane, they look really funny, don't they?"
"They do, Kane, but now..."—The two changed expression immediately, shifting from a playful posture to a serious one in seconds. "Let's see if they understand their role, Kane."
They were about to take a step, but disappeared before it, without sound or trace, reappearing in the same instant above them, Kane above Luke, and Jane above Zhiang.
They both carried identical weapons, forming a pair, crescent-shaped blades, sharpened on both ends, with the grip in the middle.
They dropped.
Already too close.
The blades were right in front of their faces, Luke managed to dodge in time, and Zhiang managed to block Jane's attack.
Before the twins even landed, they extended their hands toward them, launching chains made of magic, both of them managed to evade with an acrobatic movement, barely, leaving with a few light cuts.
They landed a few meters away.
They were skilled, but Luke noticed a very clear opening in their defense, both of them kept their hands lowered, they wouldn't be able to defend a surprise attack.
Luke remembered the ability, "Executor's Step", it fit perfectly, he would be able to catch one of them off guard, and that way they could gain an advantage against the other, it was perfect.
"Zhiang, I'm going to try something."
Zhiang was about to say something, but hesitated, and just nodded.
"Just don't get yourself killed, I'll give you cover."
"Perfect, I just need one hit."
Luke positioned his dagger.
[ Ability: Executor's Step ]
'It's going to be Kane.'
One step.
A bell sound.
The clothes Luke was wearing had bells, which alerted the twins to his attack from behind.
Luke was already too close to pull back.
Kane looked over his shoulder at Luke, and opened a sinister smile, but that didn't scare Luke.
One cut, clean, fast... at least that's what Luke thought would happen, the blade stopped at Kane's neck, as if Luke was trying to cut steel.
Kane prepared to counterattack, but Luke pulled back to where he was before.
Zhiang tried to analyze what was happening.
"Alright... this doesn't work"—Zhiang whispered to Luke. "Maybe magical attacks, do you have any in your arsenal?"
"I-"
[ . . . ]
[ Magical ability: Shadow Bind ]
"I do."
"Then let's go."
The two started running toward the twins, and both launched their abilities, Zhiang fired a concentrated stream of fire at Jane, and Luke sent a guided shadow toward Kane, aiming to wrap around his neck and suffocate him.
The twins didn't react to the attacks, they simply accepted them passively, after all, none of those attempts did anything, not even dirtied their clothes, Luke and Zhiang showed expressions of complete shock, while the twins showed clear superiority.
"Hey... Jane, they're kind of funny, aren't they?"
"They really are, Kane!"
The twins laughed for a few moments, then returned to a serious expression, followed by a furious charge toward Luke and Zhiang. Their blades aimed at their throats, the two managed to block, and kept trying to buy time in close combat.
The twins were also very skilled in martial arts, but Luke and Zhiang wouldn't let themselves be outmatched in that aspect.
Luke tried to find an opening, a jab, blocked. A cross, dodged. A feint—Luke faked a punch to the stomach—he dropped, a kick to the chin, clean hit. But again, it did nothing.
Luke spun back, still open, a cross, straight to the chin, clean. Nothing happened, Luke's fist didn't even move from there, like a child punching a solid concrete wall.
Zhiang was in a worse situation than Luke, none of his attacks landed, and when they did, Jane barely bothered to dodge. Zhiang threw a powerful low kick at Jane, she simply grabbed his leg, and followed with a kick, which Zhiang managed to block, minimizing the damage.
It was clear, they couldn't be hurt, but they could hurt them, Luke knew something was wrong.
'They can't be immortal, something is wrong, very wrong.'
Those thoughts flooded Luke's mind, until his focus shifted to the throne behind them, there were two, and on them were scattered jewels, necklaces, and two crowns, the twins weren't wearing them, but why?
'If nothing we do deals any kind of damage... then why leave that there?'
"Zhiang... those, over there."—Luke murmured.
Zhiang looked and analyzed quickly, it wasn't something that gave much certainty, but they had no other choice but to gamble on something.
"Alright, we go straight at them and dodge at the last second."—Zhiang whispered.
They charged.
The twins smiled again.
And then, at the last moment, they dodged.
Passing by them.
Eyes fixed on the jewels on the thrones.
The twins, who until then had wide smiles on their faces, as soon as they realized Luke and Zhiang's target, their expressions completely dropped.
They were only a few steps away from the jewels.
But in that moment.
One step.
"This isn't part of the script."