Chapter 10: New Allies?

The sound of screams and death rippled out for countless hours, as beautiful lightning spewed out through the town's dark skies. Piles of mangled dead bodies covered the ground drenching the soil in blood. After eight long grueling hours, the horde of monsters had finally been slaughtered.

The blood moon has vanished, being replaced by a bright cheery sun. Joseph and Aziue are sitting on a destroyed wall. Joseph's suit is almost entirely destroyed, being intact by a few fibers. His clothes were covered in blood while Aziue's clothes were for the most part clean.

Joseph let out a loud sigh before speaking, juggling the dagger in his hand.

" This dagger has become dull. There's no point in keeping it. "

Joseph chucked the dagger to his left making it scrape across the dirt. Joseph watched as the dagger came to a stop by slamming into a nearby fallen wooden beam before Aziue spoke to him.

" We completed killing the horde. So, where is the portal? "

As soon as Aziue said this, a holy voice spoke, ringing a message through Aziue and Joseph's minds.

{We must apologize beforehand. You two have reached the third test, and rightfully so. However, you've made it too far ahead compared to the other contestants. And the third test requires a group of four. This means there are no contestants you can do the third test with because they're currently still doing the second test. }

Joseph scoffed after hearing the system message. Before he murmured to himself under his own breath.

" Tch, what bullshit, we are getting punished for being ahead? "

Aziue glanced at Joseph before her eyes widened seeing a glowing yellow light starting to engulf his body. Joseph glanced down at his body surprised before the yellow light covering his body scattered into yellow particles that floated up into the air, revealing that Joseph's suit had been completely fixed before another message rang out.

{ We do think it's unfair to stop you both at this point. However, it is necessary to continue the game. So us deities have been trying to think of a bonus to give to y'all. We aren't giving you both a skill, we believe that would be unfair to the other contestants, so how about this? We'll give you information about the tenth test. }

Joseph quickly nodded his head, agreeing to hear the info about the tenth test.

{ The tenth test will be the first test, where all contestants are grouped into a single world. Usually, the tests are separated by countless dimensions or worlds. But with the tenth test, it'll essentially be one huge tournament between the contestants, and of course, the winner of this tournament will win a massive prize. Think of this tournament as the commercial break of a TV show. Also remember that, millions of deities are watching. So, please keep us entertained with your measly mortal lives. }

Joseph and Aziue both let out an eerie grin after hearing the message's last sentence before Joseph locks eyes with Aziue and speaks.

" If we can take anything away from that message. I think this tournament will benefit us quite well. We are best suited for fighting after all. "

Aziue nodded her head before speaking to Joseph.

" I agree, but you also have to note that- "

Before Aziue could finish her sentence, her eyes suddenly widened as Joseph looked at her confused before asking a question.

" What's wrong? "

Aziue's eyes scanned across the area like she was reading something. Joseph stared at her even more confused before Aziue finally spoke.

" I got a skill. Something about using electric vibrations to predict one's attack before they throw it? "

Joseph nods his head before he smirks while speaking.

" Looks like the deities thought you did more than me during this test, which makes sense you did fry hundreds of monsters. But I think the skill you got also proves one of my theories. I think the gods give us skills based on what would benefit us the most. Look at my regeneration for example, that's the perfect skill to give a close-range fighter like myself. "...

As Joseph and Aziue waited for the other contestants to arrive, back at the table the deities were around, two gods could be seen standing around the table. The other gods had left, the masked man and elder could be seen watching a screen, the screen they were looking at wasn't Joseph and Aziue instead it was a duo. A ginger woman wearing a white priestess outfit and a black-haired man with horns protruding out of his head.

The masked man let out a chuckle before speaking to the elder.

" It's quite entertaining watching a demon and a priestess argue with each other. But I doubt they will pass this test, especially since they don't trust each other at all."

The elder grinned before he leaned on the cosmic table next to him and spoke in a raspy voice.

" Not trusting each other, isn't what's going to break the camel's back instead its going to be the priestess' unnecessary kindness, "...

In their world, the demon and priestess had reached the gate that led into the town and just like Joseph and Aziue, they were stopped by the guard wearing chainmail armor. Quickly the demon asked a question

" Is this the village we were meant to protect?"

The guard stared at the demon's horns and black hair before scoffing and speaking in the same annoying tone, he spoke to Joseph with.

" Are you going to be like the last two, who arrived and left before the monster's attack? "

The demon's and priestess' faces contorted into ones filled with confusion as the priestess spoke, asking a question.

" Others arrived before we got here? "

Unbeknownst to Joseph and Aziue, their actions will change the tests of other players. Deities made this rule mainly to ensure that the strong will always have a benefit. The guard nodded his head before he pointed behind him.

"There's an Inn on your first right, rest there the monsters will attack on the second night. But I hope you don't abandon us like they did. "

The demon scoffs as he walks past the guard and heads into the town. However, he quickly notices that there are no signs of life. All of the log cabins seemed to be empty, and no village residents walked through the streets. The demon kept glancing around until the priestess following behind him spoke asking a question.

" Hey Huji, doesn't this place give you the creeps? It feels like hundreds died here. "

The priestess' body begins to tremble as her body is covered in goosebumps. Huji glances back at the woman before speaking in a cocky tone.

" I come from the demonic realm and you expect my body to react to death? "

The priestess puffs out her cheeks clearly annoyed by Huji's answer. Huji and the priestess take a right and head towards the inn, before Huji speaks.

" Hey Ava, if you are a priestess why don't you just bless the area? "

Ava turns her head towards Huji before answering his question.

" If monsters are about to attack, there's no point in me wasting my blessings on just a feeling. But do you think this inn will be comfy? "

Huji just shakes his head. As they walk up the wooden stairs leading up to the inn, Huji pushes open the wooden door, walking into the inn, before he sees the blonde woman standing behind the receptionist's desk. Huji quickly approaches the woman while speaking.

" I'm surprised you can keep this place so clean by just yourself. But where are the other residents of this village? "

Huji stops directly in front of the desk. And looks down at the blonde woman before noticing stitching across the woman's neck. He stares at it while the woman answers his question.

" They left with the two who showed up. I wish I could have left with them, the man was quite charming. "

Huji locks eyes with the woman before noticing that her eyes are slightly dilated. He glares at them confused before Ava runs over to the woman and asks a question.

" So he took everyone away? Why did he do that?"

The blonde woman shrugs her shoulders before speaking in a mellow voice.

" I don't remember why, I just remember the things he said to me. Saying how pretty I was. "

As soon as the blonde woman said this, Ava's eyes started to shine as she quickly grabbed onto the woman's hands and asked a question.

" What did he say to you?"

Seeing this Huji shakes his head before walking towards the wooden stairs leading to the inn's rooms. Huji walks up the stairs and enters a long hallway with three windows. Huji starts to glance around the hallway before he notices that one of the doors is slightly cracked. Piquing Huji's interest, he walks to the door before pushing it open.

The door loudly creaks open as Huji walks in. Huji's eyes widen after he sees a massive hole in the wall, with a pool of dried blood under his feet. Huji stares down at the blood before he walks into the room, and ducks while walking through the hole. Huji walks into another room before he sees a piece of broken chainmail armor.

Huji quickly crouches over and grabs onto the chainmail slowly picking it up as his eyes reflect off the shiny armor. Huji glares at the armor trying to process what it could mean before a scream erupts through the inn. Huji snaps his head in the direction of the noise. Huji knew that voice very well. It was Ava's.

Huji quickly runs toward the noise leaping down the stairs and coming to a sliding stop next to the receptionist's desk before he looks to the left and his eyes widen. Ava's face was filled with terror as a headless body lay on the desk. Huji's eyes widen seeing the body as Ava holds her bloody hands up and cries out.

" I-I tried to heal her neck and h-her head just fell off. I promise I-I didn't kill that woman, believe me, Huji. "

Huji's eyes dilated as his right hand began to twist. A red fog starts pouring out of his right palm before the fog materializes into a long black sword. In a single swift motion, Huji lunges toward Ava, making her heart sink in her chest, filled with guilt. Ava closed her eyes and didn't even try to defend herself from Huji.

Ava listened to Huji's footsteps waiting for a sharp pain to stab through her chest. She waited patiently, accepting her death until a loud clank entered her ears. Ava snapped her eyes open before she looked back and saw Huji blocking the guard's sword.

" What the hell are you doing Ava? Why would I even care if you killed that woman? Hurry and help me fight. "

Huji takes a single powerful step forward before he pushes with his blade pushing the guard back making him come to a screeching stop several feet away. Ava nods her head with regret still covering her face. Ava quickly walks next to Huji standing next to him before the guard speaks.

" Don't feel too bad miss, she was already dead. "

Ava looks at the guard confused, before Huji glances over at Ava and speaks.

" He's telling the truth. The woman's eyes were in something called a cadaveric position. Her eyes were dilated for no reason. I was going to tell you but I knew you were weak hearted. But don't use your holy light, it'll burn my skin."...

Two days later, just like Joseph and Aziue, Huji and Ava weren't able to protect the village instead they slaughtered all of the monsters. However, unlike Joseph and Aziue, Ava was devastated at the destruction of the town believing that she had failed her god, in protecting the people's homes.

Luckily for Ava, there weren't any residents in the village or her mind might have truly broken. Ava stared at the ground while the village around them was turned into a massive pile of rubble. Ava kept staring at the ground blankly until she felt a hand grab onto her shoulder. Ava let out a loud sigh and spoke.

" I don't need your condolences Huji, I'll be fine soon. "

Ava waited patiently for Huji's response however, he never responded confusing Ava, who felt the hand leave her shoulder. Ava turned around before her eyes widened and a voice spoke.

" Who the hell is Huji? "

The man behind her wasn't Huji instead it was a different figure. The man standing behind Ava was none other than Joseph...