"--As in, maybe he could visit L'Manberg. Not as in people could visit him."

"Ah. So you just. Communicated. Shockingly. Poorly. In a way that benefited you. That's very different from lying." Did you know that it is strategic to stand obnoxiously close to people wielding polearms. Keeps you inside their reach and hard to hit. It's a fun fact.

Did Jingyan know that this isn't true in Minecraft? If you want to be able to hit them but hard to hit yourself, the thing you want is to push your opponent onto higher ground. And there's this path of slabs nearby, and staying in Dream's personal space like that means that Dream can just walk forward and Jingyan'll have to back on it. "Right, and I'm sure you've never miscommunicated in a way that hurt Tommy."

"That was an error, on my part."

"If Tubbo was confused, I'll apologize to him. Does that address your concerns?"

"It doesn't address my concern about Tommy, no!"

"Right, your concern which you still haven't--said what it is? Other than that I shouldn't hurt Tommy. Which, feel free to ask him, I'm pretty sure I'm the person who's hurt him the least since he got exiled."

"Just because you are getting him to do it, it does not mean you aren't blowing things up in his face."

He shoves Dream back.

It's a moment of his self control snapping. As soon as he does it, it immediately hits him that was petty and stupid and ceding the high ground. Even if it was in the hypothetical defense of Tommy, it was pointless.

But.

The things is.

You can't really shove someone in Minecraft. While holding a sword.

"No no no no no--" Tommy runs over and puts himself between Jingyan and Dream. "Stop, please stop--"

"Get out of the way, Tommy." And Dream hits Tommy with his axe.

He'd shove Tommy out of the way if he could be confident that he would not accidentally kill him, but he can't be, so he pivots to the side so he isn't sandwiched between him and Dream anymore.

Last time he tried to hit Dream was an accident. This has intent. "Do you need to prove my point. Don't. Hurt. Tommy."

Dream pulls his shield up to block the hit. "That's what happens when you get in the middle of a fight. Tommy's a big man, he can take it." He jumps, hits Jingyan as he's coming down. It hurts. Jingyan's sparred before during his time here, has even been killed by Dream's axe before. This is different. It feels like getting hit by an axe would have felt where he came from.

Pain doesn't matter. "You could have pulled that blow at any time. You could have not hit the person not wearing armour."

He swings his sword. It feels sloppy. Probably is. Everything is just different enough to unbalance him.

"Jingyan-- Jingyan, please, he's going to fucking kill you, I'm fine--"

"Do not get in the way again. I do not want you to get hurt."

"Listen to Jingyan, Tommy. I don't want to have to hurt you again."

Dream's about as good as Meng Zhi at fighting; he'd win even if Jingyan wasn't at the disadvantage of being less familiar with how fighting works here. Jingyan is in fact very much at that disadvantage. He gets another hit in, and another.

"Stop deflecting your own actions."

He is not going to win. This is just a fact.

But you know what will happen if he drops his sword? He also will not win. And he has no reason to believe Dream would stop just if he surrendered.

Dream doesn't answer, this time. He's focusing on the fight.

Tommy's still begging them to stop when Jingyan dies.

Jingyan wakes up in L'Manberg with a new scar.

Jingyan has not properly died before (for the obvious reason.)

It's... an experience.

He takes a minute before stepping out of his house.

Everything seems normal in L'Manberg. Tubbo and Fundy are playing chess. Sapnap and Quackity are building something in El Rapids. People are laughing.

It's a bit jarring, compared to where he just was.

It sure is.

...in theory he should go try and retrieve the equipment he lost. In theory he should go check Tommy is okay. But Dream is likely still there, and he does not want to get in a loop.

--How is chat taking this?

<Technoblade> L
<Technoblade> if dream was fighting me i would just kill him instead
<Tubbo_> everything OK?

<bleedfierceforever> as well as it can be

<bleedfierceforever> and i will keep that in mind

He goes to up to Tubbo. He needs to speak with him about this, and not over the mysterious form of communication that everyone can read.

"--One second, Fundy. What's up, bossman?"