The world welcomed Sammuel with a smile on its face and a dagger behind its back.
Opening his eyes, he saw would could only be described as a chapel. Motes of ephemeral light sprouted from the altar in the middle. Hues of red, blue, magenta, and yellow form a prismatic-colored magic circle directly set in the middle of the room.
Before Sammuel stood a man that seemed to be affiliated with the cloth. His pure white robes that flowed along the staircase seemed unfettered by mortal kind. Holding a golden scepter that had a bloody red ruby embedded on the top of it.
Looking closer at the bloody red ruby, there seemed to be some kind of black matter that could only be attributed to decay. How would gemstone decay? Such was a question that didn’t seem to have as much relevance compared to what this person said.
“It’s a success. It seems like we don’t need to try anymore. It truly pains my heart to see so many sacrifices…” The pained expression on the priest’s face was genuine as far as Sammuel could tell.
It was then that Sammuel realized something.
Something’s filling up my lungs. Sammuel slowly turned his body to see two other people standing right behind him. Two figures that were very notable in his original world.
Elias, a world-renowned philanthropist with a very keen mind. He had just seen him talk about his latest achievement on the news.
As for the enthralled other, Sadin was enjoying the scenery before him. Such a euphoric expression made Sammuel irked. Madmen like him make the world a terrifying place.
Sadin deserved to be in a jail cell where light would never reach, the deepest depths of containment. A man Elias had managed to detain using his vast wealth.
Yet their identities didn’t seem to matter for one major reason. There was a mountain. A mountain of corpses.
Built upon old and young, the sight forced Sammuel to be nauseous. He stuffed his right hand, preventing himself from vomiting anything out. The other two before him didn’t seem to be as severely affected as he was.
He might have not seen every person within this pile yet he knew that there was someone within it. A devastating thought.
“That’s how someone normal should react.” Elias came up to him with a handkerchief in his hand. “Cover your nose and close your eyes. Take it a breath at a time.”
Sadin greedily breathed in the dreary air as if it were his last. He did not need to say anything to give his stance.
One moment he was living his own life, the very next moment, he was in this hellscape. Rage and confusion filled Sammuel’s heart yet there was something he desperately needed to confirm. Opening his eyes once more, he suffered such an agonizing sight once again.
It was not a sight that any normal human could bear.
“They haven’t turned into a bloody mess yet. That’s phenomenal news.” Another overbearing figure appeared before them. It was someone akin to a bear, his very hair grew out to the point where it seemed as if it was fur. Thick red bands were strapped on his body for an unknown reason, runes were inscribed within these bands. Wearing an open robe, his chest was laid bare for anyone to see.
“Already much better than the previous batch.” This bear-like person walked over to the three. With each step, it seemed as if the very ground shook in respect. As he was finally right beside the three, it was clear, that he towered over every single person here, twice the height of anyone here.
“Riccen, might I advise you that since we have managed to finally secure people who could acclimate to our world the contract between our Empires is in full effect?” The priest was nothing more than a young man, even younger than Elias and Sadin. Suddenly, his eyes turned terrifyingly cold. “Touching a potential member of my Salvo Empire may lead to a very undesirable fate for you.”
“Gahahaha! Can’t you see the madness in this one’s eyes?!” Riccen leaned down, eying Sadin as if he had found an extremely fun toy. “You get the other two, I don’t care. This one’s mine.”
Sadin didn’t step back, simply eying this towering giant head-on. There wasn’t anything but a desire to fight back.
“Proper protocol must be prioritized according to the contract. I will not renege on this.”
“Tch. Nothing’s going to change anyway.”
Sammuel wanted to say something when Elias covered his mouth. Speaking in a low voice, “It’s best to not agitate them. We’ll learn about the situation regardless.”
The priest raised his golden scepter and walked over to the mountain of corpses. He clasped his palms together and bowed. Muttering an indecipherable prayer, he mournfully sighed. “It’s such a waste of human life. I wish we would no longer need to do such a thing in the future.”
Sammuel’s eyes bulged as something incomprehensible occurred.
[Name: Gaben Starlet
Card Quality: ???
Star Quality: ???
Affinity Level: ???
Combat Power: ???]
“What the…” Sammuel couldn’t help but mutter. Elias had also similarly gotten shocked. His hand subconsciously stopped hovering over Sammuel’s face. They had both seen this sudden pop up above the young priest’s head.
[Divine Fire]
Sammuel couldn’t see anything but the general application. He didn’t know how he was going to fare in this world but one thing was for sure, he understood that his life was going to change for the worse.
A blinding yellow light erupted from the tip of Gaben’s golden scepter. He lightly tapped the mountain of corpses before them using this yellow light. The oddest part of this was that despite being named [Divine Fire], there wasn’t a sliver of fire to be seen.
Then again it didn’t matter as the mountain of corpses cleanly disappeared into nothingness. Seeing something so abhorrently cruel slowly disappear where not even dust remained was a sight that Sammuel would etch within his mind.
If not even corpses deserved a proper burial, it spoke volumes of what kind of place he was in.
Gaben looked behind him and turned embarrassed. Proper etiquette spoke volumes of his character. That was how he was taught. “I forgot to introduce myself, I am Gaben Starlet, an envoy from the Salvo Empire. From the looks of it, your world must’ve been filled with oppressed humans seeing as how feeble everyone who arrived here was. Worry not, this world has humanity as its overlords. You are safe now.”
For someone to rip them away forcefully and act like this, spoke volumes of his attitude. Gaben oozed treachery.
Such a bright smile devoid of any guilt. Sammuel couldn’t even muster up the feeling of disgust. Elias took this matter much more adeptly. He thanked Gaben while making some small talk. Finally, he arrived at the most important question Elias had in his mind.
“What do you need us for?”
Though he could guess.
Based on Riccen, they summoned us here to be used for something. The only question is what? Elias couldn’t say this out loud. He opted for a more passive stance before gathering more information.
“A sharp one, I see. Ah, it truly is a blessing for someone who doesn’t immediately scream or shout to be summoned. Ahem, since you haven’t died yet, I’ll assume you have been blessed by the world, in a way that only you outsiders understand.” Gaben didn’t look at Elias, rather, he reached out his hand in this empty space where the mountain of corpses had been at.
Elias looked around. There were only five people in this grand room.
As for Riccen, it showed the same information as Gaben, completely unknown. It had to be noted that Riccen seemed to be much more terrifying than Gaben. After all, their stark physical builds were far too eye-catching.
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Sammuel managed to put these puzzle pieces together faster than Elias. After all, this aesthetic was something that riddled their original world. Whispering his understanding of what this ‘System’ was, Elias came to understand the current situation.
A man with Elias’ record, would be far too focused on something more important.
“A way that only we understand…”
“I can see the curiosity dwelling deep within your hearts. Yet, we must make haste. Things are not looking favorable for us. Please tell us the blessing that you have received, after all, being taken away unjustly, the world must give your weaker kind a chance to stand on their own.”
“Too much talk. Just tell us what you got!” The towering man shouted. His voice caused Sammuel and Elias to take a step back. Sadin, on the other hand, stood still, greatly liking how this person operated.
“It says here I’ve got [Perfect Affinity]. Whatever that means.” Sadin’s heart raced, judging from how they were talking, this world was one where danger lurked at every corner. A world he greatly desired.
“[Absolute Talent].” Elias was much more thorough than Sadin. The finer details were much more refined in his hands. “It says that I have no bottlenecks. A simple description if anything. How about you, Sammuel?”
This didn’t go over Sammuel’s head. Such an important person wouldn’t have known his name yet since he hadn’t formally introduced himself. This only meant that Elias had peeked through Sammuel’s information.
“I got [Ego]...”
Absurd as the situation was, Sammuel had no ground to stand on.
“Gahahahaha! I told you, priest! That one’s mine. You can keep the other two.” Riccen didn’t even bother to wait for Gaben to confirm, grabbing Sadin away. He was completely ecstatic that such a great [Trait] was given to this one.”
Gaben shook his head. “I suppose that’s fair. [Absolute Talent] is valuable but not game-changing enough. As for [Ego], it has its uses. Though a completely overwhelming [Trait] like [Perfect Affinity] truly is something that’s game-changing.”
Elias seemed to be quite understanding while Sammuel was apprehensive. He had just seen a mountain of corpses and Gaben just brushed it aside like nothing. With such mind-boggling morality like this, he wouldn’t just follow along without any further explanation.
“Don’t worry about it.” Gaben came to the both of them and reached his hand out. “As long as we managed to get back to the Salvo Empire, everything will be fine-”
Like anything in the world, nothing ever works out as planned. A large talon pierced through the ceiling, tearing the roof of this chapel. Large pieces of debris fell down on everyone. A shimmering barrier of light protected Gaben’s side while Riccen’s roar was enough to send everything flying back.
Beyond the broken ceiling laid an eye. Its vertical slit stared down the five of them with malicious intent. It didn’t waste any time speaking, immediately gathering up a burning fire within its lungs.
[Dragon Breath | Lost Combat Power: ??? | Vzella: ???]
Before any of the recently arrived outsiders could react, the scene of an all-consuming fire swept over them. Rock melted down to lava, boiling and viscously raging. The air turned dry, all the moisture from it was siphoned away by the heat. It was the overwhelming power of a Dragon.
Sammuel’s eyes didn’t manage to miss that small key detail.
It lost Combat Power? Just what kind of world is this?
“Vzella, how kind of you to stop by.” Gaben laughed such an overwhelming attack off as if it didn’t even exist in front of his eyes. “Has your little party finally managed to get past our army?”
Enraged, Vzella, the Great Dragon of Harmony, had decided to use quite an annoying move.
[Draconic Rage | Gained Combat Power: ??? | Riccen: ???]
The very first time something else was defined. Sammuel mentally took note of this. As far as he could tell, Gaben should be able to handle this Dragon. He might be a morally dubious character but he seemed to be the stronger of the two with his cocky attitude.
Yet to his dismay, Gaben’s eyes were wide open, filled with panic.
[Teleport | Lost Combat Power: ??? | Gaben: ???]
Before his very eyes, Gaben and Elias had disappeared. Sammuel was left all alone amidst the burning rocks around him. The sensation of heat completely assaulted his senses. Moving by instinct, he had jumped away yet due to his rashness, he made a mistake. He had slipped up.
If he fell, his skin would make contact with an unbelievably hot surface. Burn marks would be the last of his worries.
“You got left alone? Gahahahaha!” A monster was walking barefoot on such steaming magma that this hulking creature no longer resembled a human. “I guess [Teleport] does take a lot out of him. But to think he would leave you alone to face this monstrosity? Gahahahaha! That’s hilarious.”
Riccen had turned out to be completely fine. Sammuel turned his head, trying to make sense of the situation. At the corner of his eye, he saw Sadin standing within the flame, uninjured. He wasn’t harmed during the Dragon’s attack.
[Status: Burning | Gain Combat Power: +4 | Sadin: 12.23]
Once again, another piece filled in the puzzle. Yet this didn’t make sense as to how Sadin could just walk on literal magma.
“Tell you what, show me something decent and I’ll bring you under my wing. It’s just that [Ego] is a notoriously difficult [Trait] to properly use. Show me your worth.” Riccen held Sammuel by his collar, putting him up to his face without being able to fight back.
“Riccen, you’re as arrogant as I remember.” Vzella’s previously scaly red body had turned into a completely different form. There were streaks of hardened scales that grew out of its body, they were marked by a very veiny crimson color. As for its joints, there grew a thin film of black matter, creating something like a flexible plate of armor. Overall, Vzella’s body looked as if he had grown armor from his very body.
Riccen knew that this change in look wasn’t limited to just this. “Great! Gahahahaha! I’ve been waiting for this moment.”
[Dragon Slayer | Gained Combat Power: ??? | Riccen: ???]
[Status: Hunted By The Dragon Slayer | Lost Combat Power: ??? | Vzella:??]
Instead of growing armor from his skin, a magical force seemed to have materialized itself just for Riccen. Mimicking the dragon’s crimson and black scales, his body grew a pallid blue shell with white lining his skin. It was the antithesis of what the Great Dragon Vzella looked like.
Looking from below, Vzella was humongous, even the still crumbling hole above them didn’t do him justice. Even up to now, only Vzella’s head and neck could be seen blocking out the night sky.
Lowering Sammuel down, Riccen reached his hand out to nothing.
[Equipped: Blade of Anthanom | Gained Combat Power: ??? | Riccen: ???]
Motes of light materialized within his hand. Clumping together, it slowly created the outline of a greatsword that was nearly as big as Riccen was. The sheer size of this blade would’ve made for a difficult weapon to hold.
The very next moment, the chapel that had contained them this entire time was blown away by none other than Riccen’s sword. All molten stone quickly cooled down by the wind and was broken apart, revealing the monster that had invaded their sanctuary in full.
Vzella towered beyond anything Sammuel had seen. A single claw was enough to flatten everyone below it. Yet there was something even more overwhelming than Vzella’s full body.
Sammuel finally saw just what kind of situation he was welcomed to.
Vzella? He wasn’t as great as the scene before him. Humans donned two sets of colors that symbolized the two Great Empires. As each wave faced the oncoming onslaught of countless races, the battlefield was the Grim Reaper’s welcoming embrace.
Looking all around him, it was everywhere. Countless humans had been fighting back against the desperate attempt of the very world itself to let this happen. Creatures of mystical powers entered the battle yet it couldn’t hold a candle against the burden of war. One fell after another, no one was free of consequence.
It had been odd that there were only two people to show up before them. As it turns out, it wasn’t because of their hubris. It was because everyone else was fighting a war to let this happen.
From a distance, a wyvern flew through the sky, carrying mindless and savage monsters to wreak havoc behind enemy lines. Its head was quickly pierced by someone below, letting it fall down on the ground, ungracefully. The monsters it had strapped on its back were let loose, tearing everything in their sights.
It wasn’t just the higher-leveled creatures fighting either, even the weakest goblins entered the war of their own volition. As weak as they were, their numbers made up for this weakness, paving a path to this now-broken chapel.
Sadin fearlessly jumped atop a broken pillar to enjoy the view. He shouted from the very top of his lungs, “This is what I’ve been looking for!”
Riccen viciously grinned. The more Sadin acted like this, the more he liked him. “Say what, Vzella, you wanted to kill these outsiders, right? How about I give you a chance? Will you take it?”
They had already failed. All the countless sacrifices to breach this ritual were all for naught. It was lost. There wasn’t anything else to gain here. Vzella wouldn’t be able to handle Riccen alone.
“Speak.” It may be a trick but grasping at anything to slightly justify their losses was far too tempting.
“Send as many as you want to kill them on one single condition, not a single creature should be greater than their strength. You have an hour.” Riccen’s arrogance greatly angered Vzella. Yet this was far too favorable of a deal for him. Stabbing his sword down on the ground, he made his oath.
Vzella snickered.
[Contract Sealed]
Sammuel looked on helplessly. Barely surviving a Dragon wasn’t enough, he still needed to survive an onslaught of enemies. Based on their numbers, it was clear that his fate was sealed.
Mad cackling came from Sadin. Such a perfect situation was far too appealing to him. It was time for him to test just what [Perfect Affinity] could give him.
At the very least, Sammuel needed to understand where he was placed.
[Name: Sammuel Arthus
Card Quality: Colorless
Star Quality: 1
Affinity Level: 0.45%
Combat Power: 0.87]
Now to see what he was up against. With a person who’s supposed to be on equal footing with him, Sadin should be a good baseline.
[Name: Sadin Eredic
Card Quality: Bronze
Star Quality: 1
Affinity Level: 103.33%
Combat Power: 12.23]
A fraction of Sadin’s strength. Sammuel was completely outclassed. From beyond the horizon, a small gap had let through a large amount of goblins. The human army had made way letting them pass through. From the looks of it, it numbered hundreds.
Sammuel heard even more cackling from these two madmen. They were both satisfied with the current change of events.
“Hmm? Are you going to fight back too?” Riccen leaned down, facing Sammuel. “You’ve got more confidence than I thought you would. I expected you to… Gahahahaha! That’s it!”
Sammuel finally had made sense of the situation. He wasn’t skilled in combat nor was he tactical at all. The best he could do was simply run. Run until the timer ends.