"Hello, are you all enjoying the ball," Life asked smiling.

"We do hope you have been enjoying yourselves," Death said.

"Everything has been lovely my lords, thank you," Luck said bowing her head slightly. Mischief and Pain bowed also.

"Excellent, I hear you three have granted a fighter your favor," Life said. "How has he been performing?"

"Very well, his next fight is the five-man group battle," Mischief replied.

"He has proven himself a capable fighter," Pain said.

"Good to hear," Death said. "I suppose there hasn't been enough time for the news to have spread yet. We are going around to the gods that have fighters performing in the group match."

"There has been a change that we think, will be absolutely delightful," Life said. "There will be a new format to the fight. We know the five versus five has been a long-standing tradition over all these years, but we feel change is needed to keep everybody entertained."

"It will be a free-for-all all," Death said. "Ten fighters enter, one comes out, it will be glorious."

"That does sound like a fun change," Mischief said with a smile on his face. "I'm sure everyone will want to watch that."

"Do you have that much confidence in your fighter," Life asked raising an eyebrow.

"We do," Pain answered.

"I don't suppose you would like to wager," Luck said straight-faced. "Nothing big, say twenty followers each."

The room up to that point had been tense and most eyes and ears were paying attention to what was happening with Life, Death, Mischief, Pain, and Luck. As soon as she offered a wager everyone's heads snapped to her. Life and Death's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Life chuckled amused, and Death stared in disbelief. Murmurs and hushed voices could be heard talking about the insane wager. Nobody ever dared to wager with Life or Death. It was too much of a risk. Mischief and Pain were completely caught off guard but recovered quickly putting on their game faces.

"A friendly wager," Mischief said. "I think it will be fun, make the fight all the more exciting."

Amused, Life was the first to reply. "So you all want to wager 20 followers, each? If we win the wager, that your avatar dies, I get twenty and Death gets twenty, from each of you?"

"I don't want this to sound condescending, but can you afford that wager," Death asked, in a condescending tone.

"It will be tight for me, but all of us can afford it," Pain responded.

"To answer your question lord Life, Yes, but if we win," Luck said, now smiling. "We each get 20 followers from you and Death."

"Ha! I like it," Life said turning to Death. "It has been a long time since we have wagered, what say you?"

"Very well," Death answered coldly. "I do hope your fighter is worthy of this."

"And puts on the performance of a lifetime," Life said chuckling. "Well then, this has been fun, but we must get going to the other gods, need to spread the news. Although from all the gasps behind us, the juicier news is this wager we have."

Life turned and walked away smiling and giving a slight wave over his shoulder. Death stared at them for a little longer, still with a cold expression on his face. He nodded his head, turned, and followed after Life. The ballroom was now a buzz with energy, the thought of lesser gods wagering with greater gods was unheard of. Excitement filled the room as everyone started talking about the upcoming fight.

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"Luck, dear, have you just signed our death warrants," Mischief asked. He had a smile on his face but was clearly nervous.

"That was a bold move, but I feel it might of been kind of reckless," Pain said. "This might bring unwanted attention to us."

"It already has brought attention," Luck said. "This might be the thing we need."

"Now I guess all we can do is hope for the best with our favored," Mischeif said.

They spotted Hunt in the crowd, he saw them and started walking towards them. He was smiling and would briefly stop to talk to one god or the other, but was still making his way towards their group. Once he arrived he made sure his back was to the crowd, so no one could read his lips. The noise had picked up considerably by this point, and he felt confident in not being overheard.

"What," Hunt started. "What have you done? Luck, I know it is your nature, you also Mischief, but this, well. Where do I even begin."

Luck smiled at him. "Like you said, it's our nature. We are confident that Bob, Will, pull through tomorrow. The gains from this will put us where we need to be."

"You three have no idea what happened in our meeting do you," Hunt asked frustrated.

"They told us it was a change to the fight," Mischief replied.

"That was the small part, the big part, was all of us having to re swear our loyalties to them. We had to place our hand on the detection orb, swear we were loyal," Hunt hissed. "We are not ready for their attention!"

The three lesser gods stopped smiling, they turned to look at each other with worry on their faces.

"Im sorry Hunt," Luck said. "We didn't know."

"None of us did," Hunt said wiping his hand over his face. "Look this could make or break us, I get that. But this was a really bad time. I know you all didn't know because even we ascended had no idea. This ball was all set up for that one purpose, for us to swear we are loyal. That is it."

"Well now it seems like the ball has turned into a wild gambling spree," Mischief pointed out.

All of the gods were now excitedly wagering followers. It was nothing like they had ever seen before. Only a few gods actually had fighters this round, but the wager between them and Life and Death spurred all of them into a gambling frenzy. The group watched the crowd amazed. Hunt's shoulders slackened and some of the tension visibly left him.

"Luck, you are incredible sometimes," Hunt said. He was in shock at the sight.

Luck chuckled. "I know."

"I don't think it would be wise for us to make any more wagers," Pain said. "But Hunt, this may be a good opportunity for you to place some."

Hunt looked at Pain and nodded. He let out a defeated sigh. "I guess you are right. Let us see how many gods we can get in on this insane fight."

~~~

Word had slowly made its way to the Pitbosses. None of them showed it, but most were unhappy with the change. A lot of the Pitbosses had grown cold over the years, having to constantly escort avatars to their deaths. Now this change to the rules was going to cause even more death.

Bob was in his cage having just finished a meditation session. It was getting late, but he watched as the Pitboss came into the room. It was obvious he was troubled by something. He looked up at Bob and waved for him to come down. Bob was confused, he thought his fight was going to be in another two days. He was also curious about the time. Would it now be a night fight? He made his way to the Pitboss and followed him out into the hallway. The Pitboss closed the door and stood there for a second. Bob was going to start walking towards the changing room but stood there confused looking at the Pitboss.

"What is going on," He asked.

The Pitboss sighed and shook his head, looking back at Bob. "They changed the fight rules. It is no longer going to be a five versus five group fight. It will now be a free-for-all all."

Bob was confused. "What is that? What are the new rules, I don't understand."

"It means that ten avatars go in, one comes out," the Pitboss said. "It is going to be every avatar for themselves out there. No allies, no help, it's going to be a bloodbath."

"Fuck," Bob replied.

"Indeed," the Pitboss replied. "The others in there haven't gotten to their fifth fight yet, that's why I pulled you out here to tell you. You still have time to prepare yourself mentally at least, head back in, get rest, and hope you are ready for your fight."

Bob went back into his cage. His mind was swirling with the revelation. This upcoming fight was going to be horrible, he knew it. He started to run through scenarios in his head, trying to come up with some kind of a strategy on how to survive. Or even just survive the beginning of the fight. He worried and paced his cage, walking back and forth till he was finally tired enough to sleep. After he closed his eyes, he found himself back in the monochrome room.

"Well this is going to suck," Games said to him.