Faint stars peppered the black sky above the arena. Rue stood in the center and raised a hand to draw the dim starlight down into a silvery blade. The walls and stands of red rock framed him as though he sank into the land. A weight too heavy for the world.

Pressure poured off him in waves. A heaviness that shook Zoe down to her knees. Even Glassik seemed taken aback, her teeth gritting as she kept her bearing.

“They blooded me in this stadium,” Rue said. “I fought for their approval,” he studied her. “You have fought well, for one thrust into survival from a world of comfort, but I had never had that comfort. I lived beneath this floor in a cage like an animal!”

Dust stirred as his words echoed amongst the stands.

“I brought you here,” Rue continued. “Because I don’t think you appreciate the magnitude of the task you have accepted.”

“What task?”

“You want to grow strong enough to kill me, but even if I bowed my head and waited there’s nothing you could do.”

Zoe glowered at him. She wanted to shout, but she forced her voice to stay level.

“You’re stalling, because you know I can beat your 1%. What is that, level 1?”

Rue ignored her jab.

“They called this place the Cathedral of the Iron Mists. Glassik, if you please?”

Glassik raised her hand in a twisting motion that plucked reality as though it were a sheet to be gathered up. The dark stadium erupted into light. A cheering populace in forest-colored togas lined the seats. They screamed and booed and laughed as metallic mist swirled up from between the hexagonal tiles. Zoe started as waves of Skein washed off the audience. This wasn’t some illusion… these people were real, and they watched her from some other time.

The mist swirled and shifted like gnats dancing over a lake. Where they passed, they left soft grass and low ground, and a tangled orchard of cherry trees whose trunks, leaves, and flowers were all made of iron.

Twin suns glowed in the shockingly blue sky, and their light glinted on the iron trees. Flowers of beaten metal flashed and shone, their petals ornate and razor-thin. Rue floated cross-legged above the trees. His outstretched hand held the starlight knife.

The system’s voice boomed out into every mind present.

[Quest: Ten Second Hell]

[Rue the Bladed Forest challenges Zoe Chambers to survive ten seconds against 1% of his power]

[Reward: two additional choices from the lower treasury]

[Zoe Chambers, do you accept?]

[Yes] / [No]

There was a trick somewhere, she knew it, but she couldn’t turn down the chance at the extra reward. There was no time to debate, the Gambler would snatch them up soon.

“Bring it on.”

The crowd exploded with applause, and the sound thrummed through her. This wasn’t the mind-shattering applause of the Gambler’s show. This was baser. Animalistic. Something as primitive as slapping a rock with an open palm echoed a thousand times.

Zoe felt mad as the crowd stamped their feet in a hectic rhythm that matched her heart.

Rue smiled down at her.

“I admire the tenacity, but let me give you a lesson on Mountains.”

“Do we have the time?”

He ignored her.

"Each mountain multiplies your level by five and gives you dominion over a certain aspect of the universe. Everyone can reach the pinnacle of five mountains.”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she did the math.

“That means your level is…” she couldn’t make herself say it.

Glassik smirked from where she leaned against the wall.

“Level 312500. The top of the top. Do you know what pinnacle means? It means that to go any higher, you must be a god. You have met gods, haven’t you?”

Zoe blinked, stunned, as she realized the last question wasn’t rhetorical.

“The Gambler, the Smith, and…?” she looked at Rue, about to say his name. “No, not you. You’re afraid you’ll die in the Gambler’s Game. Your whole elaborate suicide will be ruined. Is that why you’re doing all this?”

“You must heat and hammer metal before it becomes a blade.”

Rue smiled, but his eyes were cold steel as he severed his finger in one quick slash of the starlight blade. His flesh tumbled through the air — dripping blood — and struck the ground nail first. It stuck out of the tile like a dart, blood trickling down the stump.

[Ten Second Hell]

[Timer: 10 seconds]

The finger trembled, and the veins bulged. Zoe realized she had missed her opportunity and —

The finger shifted.

A man, steaming, knelt upon the ground in its place. A copy of Rue naked but for sloughing blood and a skirt of chainmail. Perfect musculature, sleek, aerodynamic. He smirked at Zoe and charged.

[Timer: 9 seconds]

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

[Self Reflects the World]

Finger-Rue slammed into Zoe and bounced off her mirrored technique. The reflected force knocked him to the ground.

“He’s only level 1,” Rue said. “But after climbing mountains…”

[Timer: 8 seconds]

The air twisted as Rue tapped his Mountain of War. The intoxicating scent of blood rose in Zoe’s nostrils. Her heart thrashed against her chest like a mad dog. The crowds descended into chaos.

Finger Rue pulled himself to his feet. Face painted with his blood in a self-shaping rune of wounds and ruin. He charged Zoe with the confidence of a berserker.

[Timer: 7 seconds]

He was only level 5.

Zoe charged forward and punched past his guard. Her fist knocked him back down further than her technique had before, but he landed on his feet, rooted to the ground as the Mountain of Forest strengthened and steadied him.

[Timer: 6 seconds]

The iron trees loomed above her as Rue’s Mountain charged them with a realness; with a truth beyond words. Finger Rue stepped behind a tree and appeared out from another one behind her. His War-clawed hand swept toward her eyes. He was faster now. Level 25. She deflected his attack with a mirrored hand.

Her chain still clutched the [Silverbud] and the [Shard of the Witch's Crossroad]. It had no length to spare. She swiped with her [Mind’s Eye Incision], aiming to cut off this insane growth in power.

Her scalpel cut nothing.

The Mountains were not connected to Skein.

[Timer: 5 seconds]

She reached, but he stepped away. The stars throbbed and light lanced down through the treetops. Might tore Zoe’s muscles as she threw herself away. Iron cherry blossoms rained as bright burning slag. Her body shook with pain as she pushed her limits to dodge the dancing lasers.

With his Mountain of Starlight, Finger Rue reached Level 125.

[Timer: 4 seconds]

The lasers sharpened into blades as the Mountain of Sword slipped into the arena. Zoe hungered for such power even as she avoided the blades. They swiped through iron trees with a brutal screeching efficiency. No time to think, only react. Finger Rue appeared. The back of his hand swung into her face.

Level 625.

She could never be fast enough.

[Fools Rush In]

The arena exploded into fire faster than the crowd could scream. Zoe felt the searing agony as it devoured —

Rue reached out and grabbed the flames with a clawed hand.

[No. You play this one out]

He twisted the flames, and they vanished. Zoe rolled across the floor. She launched off the ground and twisted into a rising uppercut.

She knew Finger Rue would come.

[Timer: 3 seconds]

He stood close, his hands behind his back, as though he had no cares in the world. Her fist shattered against his jaw like a glass against a mountainside. Numb disbelief rushed up before the pain.

Her chain lashed out in fury, but Finger Rue sidestepped with ease. He shoved her backward with an open palm and she flew. She twisted and flailed in the air, but there was no purchase. Nothing to push off. She could not avoid the lancing starlight. The Mountain powered blades sliced through her wrists and ankles and she fell to the mock grass floor.

She cried out. Shocked by the pain as her blood squirted free of her flesh.

[Our Hearts Toll as One]

Her breath came in gasps as she fought for control.

[Timer: 2 seconds]

Footsteps approached her from behind. She was in too much pain to turn.

[Timer: 1 second]

The fifth Mountain shook the arena with the weight of Apocalypse. Illusions twisted. Stone cracked. Blood boiled. The sky tore itself apart and those ragged wounds tore themselves in turn. Chaos consumed as Rue bent over her.

His finger hovered above her nose.

[Timer: 0 second]

The Mountains vanished into whatever ethereal plane they came from. Finger Rue poked her nose.

“Boop.”

She blinked, woozy and confused as her Vitality combatted the blood loss and failed.

Rue floated down and passed his hand over his clone. Finger Rue vanished, and Rue stood whole.

He stared down at Zoe as dispassionate as a hawk.

“Your Vitality will prevent you from bleeding out before the Gambler summons us. This should provide a decent advantage for my team. I hope you compete smarter there, than you did here, Zoe.”

“Is that why you brought me here, then?” her voice strained as she tried to retain blood with Vitality and technique. “You wanted to cripple me?”

“I fought in this arena until they deemed me ready for war. Later, when I grew beyond their expectations, I returned to this city and killed them all. Their blood stains the stones of this arena.”

Zoe struggled to blink, to breathe, as her blood flowed into the illusory grass. She felt an itch with her fingers and toes, but they lay severed and out of reach. The itching scratched at her very soul.

“Why?”

“They wronged me. Just as I have wronged you. Avenge yourself, Zoe Chambers.”

He turned and walked away.

“My prize!” Zoe snarled at the godling’s back. "I survived, didn't I?"

"Tenacious!" Rue turned, his eyes flashing. “I thought you wouldn’t dare ask, but you're correct. Whatever you want from the treasury, just say its name, and it will appear here,” he bowed. “See you —”

“One more go.”

Rue raised an eyebrow.

“What would be different? I saw you give your all.”

Zoe grinned with bloody teeth.

“No, you didn’t.”

Rue stared at her before he broke out into a matching smile.

“You see, Glassik, that’s why she’s my choice for champion,” he said as he reached into his robe and pulled out a beer. He cracked it and drank. “You have given me a good day, Zoe Chambers, but not good enough to give you a second chance. Fight on with your injuries. Prove yourself.”

Glassik floated behind him.

“Maybe she’ll bleed out before the game begins. That would be doubly boring. Are you going to die, Zoe Chambers?”

Zoe grimaced against the pain of her severed hands and feet. Was it her Willpower keeping her from losing her mind, or was she already too far gone?

Rue knocked back the rest of the beer.

“I think I dry-hopped it too long.”

He vanished, and the bottle fell from midair.

Fighting through the pain, Zoe reached for the time loop.

[Fools Rush In]

Pain lanced through her body as though she were one giant exposed nerve. The pain of Rue’s grip on her Title forced her to abandon that path. She lay, without options, as she bled out into the soft loam. The thick grass was almost dreamy in comfort compared to the sharp, unceasing pain. She lay alone under the shade of iron cherry trees. Mists swirled and dripped from the branches. The trickling sound of water was steady and faint compared to her pained breathing.

Glassik floated above Zoe. The pale godling stretched out like a cat and watched her with open disdain.

“I don’t understand the appeal of a lone champion,” she said cooly. “I have ten thousand champions on your planet. Some will die, but that’s that. Don’t think you’re special. He’ll replace you when you die.”

Glassik vanished and left Zoe alone. With Glassik gone, the illusion ended. Zoe sank onto the red hexagonal tiles. The blood-soaked stands stood silent. Zoe shuddered, her vision dark as she hovered on the edge of death, but slowly pulled back.

She would not die.

[Time until Magnifying Glass: 6 minutes, 30 seconds]

Zoe let herself relax. She may be bleeding out spreadeagled on the floor of an alien arena where centuries of slaughter stained the very stones but she had options. Her answer lay in the treasury.

She could take anything.