image [https://imgur.com/IBxN01s.png]
Etemenanki felt wild surges of hope and fear. It was scared of Nina, but at the same time he wasn’t ready for her to die. It was back in the room that Luka and Nina were sharing, but it could see out of Nina’s eyes, and it was rapidly communicating with her. Luka was pacing around nearby, muttering. He was putting his armor on and shoving items into a leather sack. Etemenanki tried to ignore him.
[Perhaps that will work! I don’t… you can always use the “Delete” function but… yes I know, that may make things even worse. Same with teleporting away. Any of the G.O.D. functions will be noticed, this close to a Lord!] It could hear the snapping tension of Nina’s voice even without truly hearing her. [I’M BUYING AS MUCH TIME AS I CAN, BUT I’M RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS. I’VE GOT ONE LAST THING TO TRY BEFORE…]
It watched as a handful of the Heroes were easily and casually struck down by the Lord, as the rest backed up to the edges of the pit. The Lord strode towards Nina, her face a mask of irritation. “You think you’re pretty clever, hm? Got some Charisma working in your favor? Think you’ll just get others to do the dirty work?” The Lord sneered. “THAT is NOT the role you are meant to play, little Hero!” She raised a bloodied hand slowly, reaching for Nina. “STUN!” The face of the Lord froze, and then… Nina slipped a ring onto the powerful woman’s finger. Immediately after the woman swung her hand back, her offhand touch slamming Nina backwards, her whole body twisting and bouncing as it hit the hard packed ground.
The Lord snarled, gripped the ring, and pulled, but it remained stuck on her finger. “What…?” [She’s pulling up the G.O.D. system to deactivate the curse! Manually lock any editing of the items stats! Quickly!] Nina gasped, face in the dirt, as she glanced over shakily at the Lord, the G.O.D. system springing into existence. The woman’s face twisted in confusion, and then her eyes snapped to Nina. “Sent by another Lord?” She had a look of seething anger on her face, her lips pulled back in a snarl. “You little idiot, you gave me a curse that makes me ANGRIER and STRONGER??” She blasted towards Nina, just as the young woman brought up a small pouch. “OUT OF POUCH!!” A column of stone rocketed outwards, catching the Lord in the midsection and propelling her across the arena and into the far wall. There was a crack as the stone column shattered, the woman collapsing to her knees. And then she got up. She was laughing. “Ha… okay okay OKAY OKAY. That was… PRETTY FUNNY!”
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Nina got to her feet shakily, as one of the Heroes ran to her. “Ha… she kills us. She rips us all to bits! I can’t...” Nina glanced at him, her eyes narrowing. The man’s face was white. “She tears each of us to bits… I don’t have any more lives left today. Please…” He was shaking all over. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Useful. Well, shit.” She grabbed a hold of his hand, her other hand flashing over the G.O.D. system. “Didn’t want to do this!” The Lord rushed at them, her face a mask of anger.
And then Nina and the other Hero were next to Etemenanki. Nina collapsed to her knees as Luka rushed over in shock. “What…? How did you?” Nina shook her head. “No time to explain! We need to get out of here, quickly! The Lord… she’s gone mad, she’ll kill us all!” The other hero nodded frantically. There was a very distant sound that was almost like a roar. [Think she will be able to follow us?] Etemenanki thought furiously. [Normally? Yes. Immediately. But right now? She has an almost impossibly high amount of rage. I… I don’t know what will happen next. I don’t think she will have coherent thoughts soon, if she even does now.]
Nina limped to the window and looked out. In the distance a massive pillar of blue fire was rising into the sky from where the Competition was being held. The flickering light illuminated Nina’s face, and Etemenanki saw her slip on a slightly worried and cute face, like a mask.
“Oh no… I hope not too many people get hurt…”