Sam and the others filed out of the room, as they had a short break to recuperate, and Eduardo and Sam made their way towards Sam’s room. It would be safer to stick together, especially considering the stakes of the next few hours. As they opened the door, a few people walked around the corner and beckoned for them to stop. It was, in order, Thomas Aquinas, Solitaire and the Bear.

“Arbiter,” Thomas said, “we wish to enter an alliance with you.”

Sam looked over at the man in surprise. Eduardo butted in before Sam could deter them.

“What will you bring to this alliance? Eduardo asked.

Thomas looked around himself shiftily.

“Let’s discuss this inside your room, shall we?”

Sam opened the door wider before Eduardo could say anything. After all, it wasn't like any of them could attack each other, and even if they were able to, Sam would wipe the floor with them in an instant.

All three men fidgeted awkwardly as they waited for Sam to look them over. Solitaire opened his mouth to say something, but Sam raised his finger for silence. The man sighed and waited. After a few minutes, Sam nodded in satisfaction and allowed the men to speak.

“Alright. We are here because we were threatened by both the Overlord and Rodney Kane. They wish for us to join their factions, but after seeing the kind of men that they are, we have no wish of sullying our reputations thus. That of course left you as our sole recourse.” Thomas’ voice had a mild accent that Sam would have described as a stereotypical TV British accent. Judging by the man’s proficiency with physics, he had probably been some sort of academic before the System came. It was strange for such a man to last for so long, let alone become one of the most powerful humans alive, but Sam wasn't exactly much better. He had been a burger jockey for most of the time after his adolescence after all.

“Hang on a minute. The Overlord is trying to gather a faction? I thought he ran solo?” Sam asked, remembering that he had never seen the man associate with anyone. The three men nodded, and the Bear answered.

“He has seen that he will need followers going forward after this tournament. Real life is not a series of one on one fights. If he goes at this solo, then he's going to die rather quickly, number one man on Earth or not.”

Sam nodded.

“Hmm, you seem to have thought of this a lot.”

“A long stint in organized crime will do that-” the man cut off suddenly and then continued. "Oh, who cares about all that secrecy stuff anymore. It's not like the government is still around. Hell, I could probably have become the new leader of Russia if it was still a thing.”

“Yes, but you still haven’t answered my question,” Eduardo interjected. “What exactly do you plan to bring to this alliance? I don't want to oversell us, but you have to acknowledge the facts. Sam is the second strongest man on Earth, and he might even become the strongest at some time in the future. In addition, Profound Visionary and myself are his direct subordinates, and we are both in the top ten. What do we need you three for?”

The Bear cleared his throat as if to speak, but he was interrupted by Thomas.

“Having three more people who will receive the top level rewards for this tournament will boost your nascent faction by quite a bit. Even if we all only place as the last three in the tournament, which will not happen if we have a say in the matter, we will still add a decent chunk of resources to your pot. As well as that, Rodney Kane seems to be focusing on sucking up all the new talent on Earth for his own faction. If you are to combat that with quality over quantity, as is your only option now, you will need the support of the cream of the crop, namely ourselves.”

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Eduardo gave the man a look and Sam smiled.

“That seems reasonable. But you have to understand, if you join my faction, not that I know what that entails yet, you will be beneath me in the hierarchy. Are you sure that that is acceptable?”

All three men nodded immediately.

“We cannot gain strength if we die too early. Besides, you and the Overlord are clearly something a cut above the rest of us mortals. You have a great future ahead of you, and we would hate to miss that or even worse, have to fight against you.”

Sam took Eduardo into the corner to deliberate and returned with a smile on his face. Holding out his hand, he shook the hands of each of the men in turn.

“Very well then, you’re in.” They were all officially part of Sam’s faction, or at least they would be when it was fully created. They all smiled and shook his hand vigorously as they passed by. Sam only hoped that they weren't spies from the other factions. Only time would tell.

They lazed around the room for a few hours, and then Sam had the idea to introduce them to Sarge. They had all met the training bots, but none of them had fulfilled the requirements to have their bots awaken their full personalities. Sarge had amazed them, but then the novelty wore off. None of them particularly wanted to fight him, after hearing of how he was even more powerful than the Overlord at his full strength. Sam had tried to convince them that the robot would only adjust to whatever the person using it wanted, but they had politely declined. In reality, Sam had wanted to figure out more about Thomas’ strange skill set, and he eventually asked him.

“Thomas?”

“Yes?”

“What exactly is that fighting style that you use? You know, the thing with the parchment and the quill.”

The other man pursed his lips but eventually spoke.

“I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to explain the basics to you. My class allows me to draw upon the power of physics to control reality around me in a limited manner.”

Sam waited for the man to continue, but was disappointed,

“That’s it? It seemed like a lot more than that during the fight.”

Thomas sighed.

“Look, we might have to fight each other in the battle royale. Any edge that I can keep might be valuable.”

Sam nodded in agreement, that sounded smart. He turned away from the man and let him have his secrets. A moment later, Sam heard a knock at the door. He made his way over cautiously, not sure who would be waiting outside. He opened the door a crack to see Lao waiting outside. The man was completely healed since last time, and he had a small smile on his face. Sam opened the door wider to let him in, and Lao frowned upon seeing the three new faces.

“Sam, what are they doing here?” He asked, suspicious.

“They all wanted to join our little group. We need to start stockpiling capable fighters if we are to survive whatever comes after this tournament. Because nobody can die during the finals, the System is basically locking us into the power structure that exists now. We need allies if we are to survive.”

Lao’s eyes clouded over with blue light and he looked at the three men carefully. After a moment, he nodded and sat down.

“They’re good. None of them are spies.”

Thomas looked over at Lao in surprise.

“What was that?” He asked, surprised that Lao had been able to see so deeply into him.

“That, my friend, is what is called a secret. Perhaps I will tell you one day, perhaps I will not.”

Thomas scoffed and then they all had a sudden urge to check on the arena, which meant that the System was summoning them. The six men trooped in, noting the ugly looks that they received from the others. It seemed that Rodney and the Overlord had not wasted their few hours off either, instead using them to gain followers. Most of the fighters had sided with Rodney, but three stood behind the Overlord, Anonymous, Torchman and Drake. Reaper stood off to the side, clearly on his own. Sam wished the man luck for after the tournament and then remembered what he had done to Melissa Tang. His pity quickly shriveled up and vanished.

They stood there for a few minutes, waiting for the System to speak. It seemed to have waited in order to build up suspense with the audience, because when it began to speak, people started cheering.

“Citizens of Earth, it is time to find out who has what it takes to make it to the quarterfinals! In a no holds barred battle royale, the eight worthiest fighters will be allowed to compete in the subsequent matches.”

With that, the System went silent, and all of the fighters were directed up onto the arena floor by a message on the screen in front of them. As soon as they arrived there, the arena morphed into something completely different. A dry and barren desert of black sand and crumbling ruins extended as far as the eye could see in every direction.