I have a hard time deciding if I like Griffins or if I don't.
On one side, they seem like almost cute, murderous machines willing to kill a person for a bit of mana, and I can respect that. They are cruel, but if you look at it from this way, aren't cats the same? Probably even much worse. I saw cats do terrible things to living beings, such as squirrels or rats, just for the love of the game, not because of a need for food. The Griffin at least went for the kill before eating.
On the other side, Griffins also seem to like mana, and that creates a possibility of them being mana thieves. And we don't like that.
I stop swiftly and put my hand in front of my sister, who stops on the platform next to me. We watch as one of the participants approaches the clouds that have lightning going through them, and the moment he comes close, a lash of lightning hits him, damaging him enough that he is teleported outside.
Victoria moves first, and I follow her as she breaks the window into a skyscraper and then shifts to a slow, calm walk through the hallways.
This event requires us to get one of 1000 mana stones. That means it will likely go on until all of them are taken. According to what I have learned, that means up to three days, even if it can be much shorter. After all, it might be possible for one person to gather hundreds of the mana stones and, by doing so, block the way for many participants further into the games.
While I think of that, both of us stop and listen to the sound of cracking glass as someone steps on it, and from behind the corner, a man entirely covered in shadows and holding a glowing, red-bladed dagger walks out. Over his head floats a similar shadowy crown.
He glances our way and, confirming we don't seem to want to attack, walks away, finding a staircase heading down.
Me and Vic follow behind him as the skyscraper seems not to be affected by the lightning storm outside. I think it is a way to force participants into smaller, narrower places, allowing for a high variety of battlefields.
The man covered in shadows must know about us walking behind him, but even now, he doesn't seem to mind and heads down, and the lower we go, the fewer lights there are.
No one here needs it, but at some point, I create a thermal cube to light the way. I just feel more comfortable with some cozy light nearby. The cube floats and slowly spins near my shoulder, throwing a gentle golden light on the walls while also creating shadows of the railings and of our own bodies.
My perception is raised as I observe the man. I wait for an attack or anything, really. Yet, he doesn't do that. Instead, he just continues down.
"Any idea who he is?" I ask my sister, not caring that he hears us.
"Absolute Candidate Euris, said to be declared one by a wyvern," Victoria says.
"Damn, a wyvern? Don't all these guys hate the system? How can they even declare people?"
"I do not think there are details available about that, Nathaniel."
"I see. Do you think he will tell me if I ask him nicely?"
"He doesn't seem the type," she says, her eyes watching the man the same way I do, ready for any sign of attack.
Yet even now, it doesn't come.
A few participants get into this skyscraper as well and begin to rush down the stairs. When they notice us, they begin attacking immediately. Throwing explosive projectiles down, using their presences, or straight up charging into melee.
For the most part, a few lances are enough, and Victoria takes care of the melee-range ones. Interestingly, this place has very durable walls. Not one of them gets damaged, not by my projectiles, nor by explosions, nor by Victoria slamming a poor participant against them.
It's not like they are indestructible, but they require some effort to break. My lance can pierce through when I try, but any more would require more than 30 percent of me.
Maybe I could hire these guys to build my future moon base.
When the stairs finally end, we enter a long hallway framed on both sides by big windows through which I can see the storm clouds that are now at the top. The hallway itself is at the ground level, which radiates heat, like a lot of it. Like "the floor is lava" level of heat. That part of the ground is red, and in between it, there are many narrow, twisting blue pathways that don't radiate heat.
The sky still has that nasty lightning, and there are big clouds of green mist that move about like a living being. All over the place are tall, round towers, like the sort a wizard would have.
There are also lakes, a few mountain peaks with snow at the top, and mysterious pits whose bottoms I can't even reach with my senses, nor can my eyes pierce through.
And of course, participants are battling all over. I can sense a few really nasty arrays and domains that I suspect a few people set before other participants came down. I think these people went through the second layer as quickly as possible to make their preparations here. Some of the arrays are impressive and not that dissimilar from mine, to the point that I don't think I could remove them easily.
Euris, whom we have been following, is already gone, disappearing who knows where, when Melek's voice carries through this layer.
"With great pleasure, I want to announce yet another special spectator! The guest isn't here just yet, but I am far too excited not to share the news right away! He contacted us directly, and after a brief discussion, we agreed to arrange his transport here!"
His voice cuts off as if he wants us to muse over it, though I suspect this pause is mostly meant for the viewers and spectators to theorise with each other.
And Melek shouts again in a gleeful voice, "For now, I will keep their identity to myself so you guys will have something to think over! Do not hate me too much for that, please!"
Me and Vic look at each other, but neither of us says anything. I highly suspect the invisible cameras are currently zooming in on participants’ faces to fish for a reaction, but they won't be getting any from me.
I shield the two of us, and we begin to run through the blue path, heading towards one of the towers nearby, or well, to one that hasn't exploded yet.
Even an hour later, we have no mana stone, nor have we seen any signs of one. Once in a while, Melek announces some famous participant finding his mana stone and using it to "pass" through this event.
There are no ridiculous audience votes like summoning a Griffin, but there are a few fun ones. For example, increasing gravity fivefold for five minutes. Another one is to make this place entirely dark, but that one is quickly canceled as it seems plenty of people in the audience threw up because of the night vision cameras.
Some of them are straight up ridiculous.
Like having to do a short dance every time you kill someone, otherwise you get kicked out. That one lasts surprisingly for half an hour, and the audience doesn't seem to get bored of it. And the participants continue to fight, not minding that "rule". What a bunch of weirdos.
There are probably many more, but the area of effect is usually much smaller, often targeting certain participants. Mostly the most famous ones. Some of them get harassed by the audience, while others get powerful single-use items and such.
Many of these participants clearly take advantage of that, putting their best side forward. Others try to promote some company when they think the camera is on them.
And the longer this goes on, the deeper the contempt forms inside of me for all of this.
This is a joke.
It takes competing against each other, a test of skill, mind, and body that I enjoy so much, and makes this twisted version of it. It feels like they don't even take the effort people put in to get here seriously, treating them like they are just puppets thrown into an arena for a laugh.
With Vic, we search through the area, sometimes getting into smaller, quick fights, but never searching for them. There are a few times when I think the camera focuses on us. After all, we are both likely the newest to the system out of everyone here. Bums from a newly awakened rural planet. Still, attendees from the tutorial, even if talented enough to become S-rank.
I don't think any of it matters to the organizers or the audience. We are just siblings. A Chekhov's gun waiting for one of us to die or lose to see the reaction of the other, or hoping to pit the two of us against each other.
But meanwhile, there are many more famous names people are interested in.
So we don't do anything outrageous, and after a few more boring hours that only make me more frustrated, both of us have our mana stones.
Unlike many others, we don't remain behind to find more of them, but crush them right away to appear back inside that small room where we were before the event.
With our appearance here announced, Selene and her two colleagues rush in, congratulating the two of us while dragging us through the hallway, where we meet more participants who had advanced in a similar way.
"So far, the audience seems to like you! You did brilliantly on the second layer, which shocked quite a few people. But they got a bit bored by your performance on the third, honey," Selene says. "It wasn't bad, but it lacked that extravagant flair, if you know what I mean!"
"I am well aware of that, Selene," Victoria answers calmly.
The five of us step onto a platform that functions like a high-speed horizontal elevator, hurtling us through the desert toward a cluster of towering buildings in the distance.
"I'm glad you are!" Selene continues. "To be honest, if you do well, it benefits me too! We have a bit of downtime now, probably a day or so, which gives me enough time to commission some proper clothes for the two of you and book another interview with Melek. Just keep in mind that since you passed, the organizers will be paying a premium for any dirt on you, and that amount of money they will be able to spend will only skyrocket if you clear the second game. They love digging up nasty little secrets to provoke a reaction or rile up the audience. Though I'm still not sure what narrative they want to build around you."
She taps her chin thoughtfully as the platform accelerates, narrowly missing another platform a few times.
"Of course, they love the sibling dynamic," Selene muses. "But I don't know if they'll try to cast you as villains or heroes. Perhaps one of each? Nathaniel, sweetie, after your stunt with the Griffin, they could easily paint you as an arrogant, villainous type. Or maybe a rebel against the system? Who knows. Melek is entirely unpredictable, and he's the one calling the shots. The ridiculous man manages to keep track of it all in that creepy head of his."
The platform finally grinds to a halt in front of a towering metallic skyscraper surrounded by lush, vibrant gardens that feel entirely unnatural in the dry desert. We are led along a cobbled pathway running through the oasis. It is clearly one of many such compounds, which makes sense. Organizations with the resources to construct entire layers for the first game wouldn't struggle to build a few buildings like these.
Once inside, Selene takes my measurements and departs, leaving me with barely enough time to settle into my quarters or take a shower before a sharp knock sounds at the door.
A sudden suspicion makes me want to fire a lance straight through the door, a blood and empyrean mana lance powered by up to thirty percent of my total capability and reinforced by up to thirty percent of my kinetic energy capabilities.
Suppressing the urge, I take a few steps forward and pull the door open.
I give it a fifty-fifty chance of being Envy or Adrian. And the opening door reveals the latter.
I almost slam it shut the moment I see his infuriatingly honest smile. To make it worse, he looks even younger than before. Where he previously resembled a well-maintained man in his mid-forties, he now looks as though he is barely pushing his late thirties.
"I can leave if you prefer," Adrian says smoothly.
Instead of answering, I step aside, and he walks into the room, looking around curiously.
"They didn't invite you to the game, so you decided to show up and cause trouble anyway?" I ask, shutting the door behind him.
"Oh no, I was invited. I simply turned it down. While it looked entertaining, it felt a bit too shameless to pit myself against these people."
"As if you wouldn't join the moment there was something to gain."
"Possibly," he agrees.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"Your handler is likely too preoccupied preparing for whatever is brewing on the twelfth floor of Beyond, so she does not know. But this Game is about to become very interesting too."
"Envy?"
"Envy, and a few others," he confirms.
"So the two of you are best friends now, sharing secrets?"
"I wouldn't put it quite like that," Adrian replies, his grin widening as he clearly savors my frustration at being left out of the loop.
So I lock eyes with him and ask. "Have you seen Beyond's Individual Rankings lately?"
For a fraction of a second, and only thanks to my thought acceleration, I see his smile falter just that tiny little bit.
POV Ruby
Maybe choosing the Game as a place to let Nathaniel "rest" was a mistake. I know him a little after all this time, and I can see it on his face. That growing, dark frustration, waiting for the moment he decides to snap and release it all.
I expected him to get annoyed, but I probably miscalculated, as he looks down on these people even more than I thought he would. At least his sister is there with him to rein him in a little.
In a way, isn't he similar to Master Lissandra? She would also utterly despise the Game.
But even if there is something I have missed, there isn't much I can do to help him, and I am beginning to worry that we have been tricked. Both me and Diligence.
Maybe the Beyond’s main defensive array was handed over to the imitation so easily just so she could get into what she is doing now. Maybe there are people who are now relying on my and Diligence’s distraction with her to put their own plan into motion.
There isn't much I can do about that now, other than send in a few of my available Masters of Greed and notify a few Rulers who might be willing to help.
For now, I have to focus on keeping the tutorial stable and not allowing Diligence’s near panic emotions to affect me.
What the Imitation of Master Lissandra is doing is something she has been sneakily doing for a while, and she is ramping it up now that she has that ridiculous dagger.
There is no stopping her now, but we have to do our best to keep the tutorial from breaking.