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Volume 4
Chapter 36: Those At The Top
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"New attraction?"
"Hahahaha... your face says that it's the first time you've heard of the Arena?"
"Arena...?!"
Realizing the word that was spoken to him, Siva's eyes wandered around, searching for a different subject and angle on the nature of his new surroundings.
Graffiti of all kinds, writings of unknown origins and time, layers upon layers of mold, a ceiling of cracked heated rocks put together by sand cements to form a dome with signs that it was formed by hands and molded into its current shape, and with the bars and the hallway itself, leading into an unknown area with a slightly up-ramp angle... Siva's mind put them all together, connecting them to that one world that he had once thought to be majestically entertaining to witness and see.
Could it be the Coliseum?
But then again, the man said that it was 'The Arena' and basing on the way he said it, he really meant it as the arena and not the coliseum. Could there be such a place other than that one?
"Well, looking at your reaction, I reckon you're also a gamer, yeah?"
Siva's eyes flared into realization and came to look back in surprise with the man's words.
"Only people are allowed to speak that word and not be punished by the system." He said and sat back to the bed, minding the chains that was tied on his limbs with a touch.
"Well," The man then motioned behind him and Siva saw the hungry [Gladiators] devouring the food laid on the tray. "All of us in this cell are. At least they mind us enough and treat us this way. Oh, and if you're wondering why we're all tolerating this," This time, the gladiator showed Siva the mark on his chest as if proud of it. "In exchange for this mark, we here are experiencing the best times of our careers."
"Best time?"
"Yeah. You see, being a Gladiator has its perks. Do you see that?" Looking at the direction of the hallway, Siva saw that a part of the dim lit hall is being covered by a shadow. "On that direction is the central hallway. On the day that you'll be launched, you'll see there an armor set, ruined by time and full of rust but... well, you'll know it when you see it."
Siva was intently listening to the man and he didn't see that the other Gladiators were already looking at each other nodding once and continuing to eat.
CLING CLING CLING...
A bell alarm briefly rang loudly, catching the attention of everyone in the cells. As heads were raised up, Siva's eyes immediately cast on his right side.
In the hall way's direction, the shadow that was cast upon that side moved along with the sound of a seemingly large gate being carried by massively-sized-sounding chains. It didn't take long before that side brought the sound of metal soles hitting the rocky floor. With their conversion abruptly ending on that moment, all eyes came to focus and wait for the people to reach their side.
As the light of the dancing flames became brighter and brighter, all the more Siva felt a heavy presence approaching his side. And when he caught a glimpse of the group approaching his direction on the corner, he felt his heart rate increase as he saw a ruggedly dressed man with blood and all, with his hands tied by an abnormally over-decorated pair of shackles, being escorted by knights and hunters that numbered to almost fifteen.
"That's!" He couldn't help but utter in surprise.
"Oh so you know him, huh?" The man said smilingly. "His reputation seemed to be in par with yours."
As the man kept on with his one sided conversation, Siva's attention was all focused to the group that approached his cell. And when their group was about to pass them by, the man glanced over his cell, seeing a dark skinned being looking intently at him.
On that moment, Siva felt goosebumps crawl over him as he saw a calm, sadistic smile beamed out of the man's lips after only a glance at him. the man carried that smile for a moment and then kept it to himself as he laughed off.
In the small moments that their eyes met, Siva's own experience immediately told him one thing.
--No.
In fact, as he glanced over his surroundings, with all these men, including the one standing right next to him, all of them had one thing in common that he had failed to accept. The reason why he lost to that man named Hagrid, he thought with grim realization, was already in front of him.
These people... live inside this world.
For they are those who battle men and monsters of The North.
And, as the escort group completely passed through their cell, only then that he processed the last things he heard from the man. He looked up and said to him, "You know me?"
"Of course!" The man replied with a smile. "Who wouldn't know The Destroyer?"
With such a surprising testament only did Siva also realized that his cover had been blown. His skin was dark, blacker than the darkness on the deeper part of the cell, evaporating like smoke is the
Then another, much longer ringing echoed and the people in the cell all began to stand up, stretching, preparing themselves for something.
"Wait! What's happening?" Siva asked desperately.
"It's time!" The man said.
"What do you mean? Time for what, exactly?"
"You have a problem with your ears, mate. Didn't you hear what I just said? This is the Arena."
*********
ANGEL CAFE, Walled City of Loire
An scandalous uproar had erupted in The Illuminati Circle. The prestigious 'Group of Elites' had added a new member. In the lounge at which the big names had gathered, Dante welcomed the new member---and his crew---with a wine glass raised towards his direction.
Present in that place were the famous Gun Slingers, the [DOUBLE TAG] Paak and Waan, with their voluptuous avatars now looking like Elves with their upgraded gears; and there was also Narda, the [Mage of Greenwood]; Kratos, [Raider of Holympus]; Volga, [The Lone Wolf]; Bashmuth, [Neo Slayer]; and of course, the pride of The Illuminati, Gats, [The Wanderer].
Their glasses raised high, they smiled and cheered.
"Welcome!" Dante greeted. "We, The Circle of Illuminati, welcome our newest and youngest members and hope that you will uphold Glory, Fame, Honor, and Elegance into every job you will take."
As the leader, a tall young man received the glass and hit its tip, the red fluid inside danced from end to end until the glass was lowered and the liquid was drank. Around them were the people that was in the middle of acknowledging the young man's and his group's deeds.
"Such talent."
"Such ingenuity."
"I can see promising results on them."
"Almost at the level of that detestable man."
"...or perhaps even greater."
"Indeed. The ideas on their Inventions... they're both worthy of envy and jealousy, and yet can also spark ideas to Invent something of the same."
"True that, I say. You think that that old man with them is a chaperon?"
"Hahaha... yeah, he look old to be aplayer."
"But that handsome man beside him seemed to respect him, I wonder what their relationship are?"
As the murmurs began to gather in numbers, the words spoken in a whisper began to reach a certain man's ears. And as the word 'Old' was being spoken over and over, though the target is the other man, the words 'cold' and 'bold' had lost its 'c' and 'b'as his irritation grew more and more.
"Master." He pleaded but the man addressed only leaned at his side and smiled.
"You should enjoy the new life outside your hole, Gabriel, even if you don't age anymore, you still gather years up on your back."
"And to think I'd hear such words from a man Eons older than me... it's cheating."
Gabriel spoke with such bitterness, he looked aside looking like a lead actor of a movie, clenching his fist to a bitter truth he must endure. Like hearing a good joke, the real old man laughed out as the merriment of their surroundings hid the hidden glances not far away.
As every word stabbed Gabriel. The pain in his eyes couldn't be hidden and he looked like he was about to cry but did his best to stop it. But the more he did, the more the ladies around blushed. Their faces showed their emotions because the [Emotional Graphics Engine] can't lie.
Stolen novel; please report.
Meanwhile, as Paak and Waan were socializing with their peers, two look alike fellows approached them wearing faces with smiles beaming from ear to ear.
"Hi I'm Ricky."
"I'm Rocky."
"I heard a lot about you guys."
"We're big fans."
Paak and Waan, a little surprised with the sudden introduction, looked at each other and smiled like the vixens of a certain drama series. Their playful grins revealed their thoughts but even though it was clearly visible, the fact that they were "elves" that looked exactly like each other, different only by the color patterns of their hairs, the playfulness on their smiles added more charms to them than the sense of wariness.
Almost immediately, the younger twins were hypnotized, their jaws dropped no the two's words:
"We're glad you're our fans." Paak said and bit her lower lip.
"And do you know what we do with our loyal fans?" Waan said and she looked at her sister and then back to the twins, scanning them from head to head while wetting her lips. "We burn them."
The girls giggled and bumped wine glasses while the other two exchanged fist bumps not looking at each other and only to the jiggling melon balls.
On the other side of the room, Garin was drinking his wine glass alone. He kept on looking at his glass, playing with the liquid to dance inside the container, experimenting on how to create the biggest wave without exerting much effort to shake it. As he kept on his own company, leaning at the wall in most secluded corner of the ball room, he didn't notice the approaching man carrying a cane.
"It won't turn blue, no matter how much you look at it."
Garin raised his head and saw a man with a white mask. But that's not all. In fact, everything he wore was white except for the underpolo and the gold-laced shoes.
"And you are?" He asked irritably as the man's approach was both smoothly calm and yet full of intimidation. In fact, Garin's own instincts told him the moment he laid eyes on the man that he is the exact representation of a real devil hiding in a man's flesh.
"Just a humble patron." The man told him.
"A simple patron? With those two guys behind you, and the darkness that you keep on hiding with your white dress isn't enough to make me think you're just a simple patron. You'd either be a really strong player from the top 1000 or a representative from a really prestigious Guild wearing those luxurious looking tuxedo attending a ball."
The man chuckled shortly and stood by his side, his posture was stern and elegant, holding his cane like a third leg in front his legs with two hands.
As they observed the happenings, the silence between them seemed to go beyond darkness and more. This made Garin more uncomfortable and the short few moments felt like torture to his own mental side. Unable to hold the words any longer, he looked beside him and:
"Okay. What do you want with me?"
The man in white tux, in between his two brute bodyguards, looked at him and as his mouth, which is the only visible part of his face seemed to show bewilderment to his question, answered.
"You? Who said I ever wanted you?"
"..."
With pure embarrassment, Garin tried his best to hold in his anger and he placed the glass in his hand on the table near him and was about to go when the man spoke.
"Though since you're here. I'm a bit curious about that old man."
With his own curiosity also ignited, Garin held his notion and returned to his previous place. He then looked at the same direction that the man was looking at, seeing a pair of old man and the instant celebrity beside him.
"Looking at them like this, it seemed to be that they are like a master and a servant."
Garin studied the two as they had their conversation.
The old man was at the forefront, normal, dull, just like an old man, and then there was the silver haired [Apollo] one. He was at the back side, bowing but seemingly irritated on the words that was coming at the old man's mouth. The old man was laughing, the silver man was bullied.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Garin told him indifferently.
"Hahaha! Broaden your prospective. what can you see?"
With the increasing irritation on Garin with the man's changing tone and manner of speech, he also felt his curiosity increase with the challenge on his intelligence.
Looking at them again, he broadened his prospective.
From their manner of talking that hasn't changed, he almost gave up. The silver haired man was like a subordinate who tolerated the man's bullying. Then Garin glanced over at the white-tuxed man, seeing the stolid expression. His appearance alone, he pretty much blended in with the players with no problem being the boss or even higher.
He looked around him for a moment and saw the different dressed people in the room. They were all players that had been scouted from all over Terroa to be part of this prestigious
With their armors and clothes made from high ranking materials. They showed their weapons and all their accessories as to display that they are not ordinary players to be bullied.
Such expensive gears were all gathered int his place tonight, telling the fact that The Illuminati is really a place where only the elites could be. And then he put his glance back to the weird pair. As he was still lost as to what made those two different from the rest of them, he remembered to actually broaden his perspective of those two.
What is different with them?
And the moment he asked that question to himself, he saw two women from The Illuminati passed by them and waved a hand at the man on the black. The silver haired man gritted with them with an awkward hi and the two girls giggled to themselves as they walked passed.
It was then that he noticed.
"Ah! That's...!!"
It was all obvious.
Everyone here was part of the Illuminati. They're all elites. To show that they were elite, they displayed their best equipment and best attires and appearances. But those two, most especially the old man, is too normal. Too normal in fact that their combination was not right.
He scrutinized the silver haired man's equipment and Garin's own understanding of Terroa's equipment system kicked in. On standards, the silver haired man could be said a humble-type wearing not extravagant gears that players wear but rather on the limits of what NPCs call at the edge of nobility and royalty.
But the old man, however, he was too normal.
He was wearing an NPC's old man's clothes. It was here that he realized that those two guys are wearing clothes only NPCs can wear.
"So you noticed?" The man suddenly spoke.
Garin's heart rate was rising. He reassessed his understanding again and confirmed it. Players and NPCs of Terroa is hard to differentiate with one another, making it one of the challenges of playing this game.
But considering that there was this weird [Taboo] of telling NPCs that they are NPCs... all the more that Garin realized the base of the mysterious man's suspicions.
"As far as I know, this gathering is only for players. For people."
Garin moved his eyes right without moving his head.
"And what if they're just cosplaying?"
"Hahaha... cosplay... what a stupid thing to say. I was here when this game was still on its BETA and I assure you, there is that clear line that devides players and NPCs. When a certain establishment is owned by a player, NPCs not granted access to it cannot enter that establishment."
"You mean..."
"Dante set specific rules for The Illuminati Circle when he created it. He made sure that this is a circle only intended for the elite players' gathering. So having NPCs here is a mystery... unless..."
"Unless...??"
As if realizing something, it was here that Garin thought of something.
Humble patron. That was how the man in white tuxedo introduced himself.
Humble patron my ass!
"You..." His irritation came back as he realized he was toyed with. "Who are you exactly and what do you want with me?"
The man, finally facing him, stomped his cane on the floor like a Lord of a mansion, and his two lackeys placed themselves on his right and back side respectively.
A cold and sinister smile crept over Garin's skin.
"My name is Augustus Laniary and I have a request for you."
Hearing the name, Garin almost took a step back in fright. The man himself was in front of him. The [Ghost of the Underground World] is giving him a mission. To those who are part of the higher circle inside the Illuminati, only a select few are privy to the information regarding the
"You already know that I can't say no so spill the beans."
Again, a smile of satisfaction was what he received from Augustus.
"It's just a simple request, actually. All you have to do is be my eyes and become a part of their team."
**********
"Those are special chains."
Siva was in front of a council of sorts, composed of only three people who were all [Users].
Behind them were chained people, though unlike him, was marked with the same brand that was on the man's chest back in the cellars.
While the only woman in that 'council' had been yelling at Hagrid earlier, the most arrogant of them, the one in the middle, had been the one that's been explaining to him these things since the moment he stepped inside the room.
Also, the woman named Donna who was dressed in pirate clothes, reminded Siva of a certain witch with a twisted hobby.
Not only they were both busty women who wear clothing that easily distinguish their personalities, the way they want men to follow their wishes, either forcefully or by clever manipulation, was painfully the same. Perhaps the only trait that separates them apart is that Rafaela was more of a boss than the 'leader' version in front of him.
Still the fact that he was here, chained by
Thus somewhat affecting his disposition.
"As long as you are thinking of escaping, those chains will become more and more heavier and they will be making you more irritated as the time flies by."
"Plus, as long as you are chained, you will have no choice but to take part of the
"But that doesn't mean there is no perks on it."
While the last person to speak was the woman, the men were all looking at him with smiles and victorious grins in their faces, especially Hagrid.
"Do you understand, Destroyer?" The one named Donna said. "In this place, whether you are part of the prisoners or of the rankers, all of you are required to be part of the ritual of blood."
Siva did not reply and only looked at the chains in his right arm. He tried to battle it out and pull it but he only saw another chain rap itself on his body like a snake, adding on the layers that he received since he began to struggle.
When the wizard saw this, he laughed mockingly at his effort as he waved a hand and called in a slave.
"You see, these girls are the finest products that this world had to offer. Don't you agree?"
"..."
When the girl he called in sat on his lap, Siva noticed that that particular woman was the only one that was not branded by the [slave mark]. All the more when he watched how she tried to protest, Cedric, the wizard, pulled her on her waist and forcefully made her sit on his lap.
Seeing this made Donna wince, taking a piece of bread from their table and throwing at the man's face, stopping him from kissing the slave's bare left chest.
"Do that when I'm not around."
"Tsk. (Annoying bitch)."
Feeling relieved, the woman escaped Cedric's clasps and retreated into the other side of the room, leaving only a fleeting impression of her scarlet hair dancing on the dark wind.
Siva, seeing this, smiled at his fate.
A cruel smile. A demonic thought. His anger was rising on the verge of uncontrollable lust for murder, he was smiling at Cedric for his last act. The smiling Hagrid on the other side felt his skin crawl with an unknown sensation, he felt both frightened and excited at the same time.
Donna, feeling the creeping thought of that act, glared back at Siva whose smile on his dark skin only made him look like a devil in black clothes.
And then Cedric, losing his appetite, looked at him without any sort of expression, his eyes only laid on that beaming smile of mockery and ill intent.
"I will kill you."
Siva spoke and multiple chains appeared to tie his body. The chains were normal sized but their numbers were all too great that it made Siva almost look like he was bowing before the three elders of Dragona. And yet, even though it was the situation, he did not bow his head and instead remained glaring sharply like a demon towards Cedric.
"I swear I'm going to kill you all."
And then, with his serious expression, Cedric waved his arm.
To Siva's surprise, a teleport circle appeared beneath him and he felt his body being dragged by the same vacuum he felt using the Teleporter Device. But before the teleport light had actually managed to snatch his bearing, he saw Cedric smile with his last words.
"Good luck."