Sero waited impatiently for his food to arrive. Before Amaya could drop him off at his apartment, he convinced her to join him for dinner, although she seemed reluctant to spend any more time with him. They decided to stop by the same Italian restaurant prior to the succubus outbreak, since Sero offered to pay for her meal.

"So," Sero sipped his water, relishing the refreshing coolness with a satisfied smile. "Wanna talk about earlier?"

"I’ll stab you if you ever bring it up again." Amaya set down her glass of wine and glared at him.

"Ok, fine," Sero raised his hands in mock surrender. "How about the offer we made?"

The liaison sighed. "Well, I haven’t had a chance to organize the gold or look for a new location for you yet, but I have an inkling of what to do. In any case, you’ll definitely be moved on the condition you get past the first round."

"Easy enough," he shrugged nonchalantly. "I’m not worried about that."

"These are pretty strong Ascendants, you know." Amaya glanced at him skeptically.

"I know. I just have a feeling I’ll at least make it to the semi-finals."

"Including you, there are 32 participants. Apparently, there hasn’t been any more registrations after Liam and Elena announced their participation in the tournament."

"They’re that strong to scare off any more sign-ups?" Sero leaned his chair back.

"Yes and no," Amaya made a face. "After the first tournament a couple months back, a rule was implemented stating that the maximum allowed S-ranks is four, to prevent other lower ranked Ascendants from refusing to participate. There’s plans of having a separate tournament exclusively for S-ranks because of the massive gap between them and A-ranks."

Their food finally arrived, briefly pausing their conversation; Sero had ordered lobster scampi while Amaya had opted for salmon piccata.

"With the rule in place, it did help appease the population regarding the strength disparity, so there was always a healthy amount of participants," Amaya continued after taking a bite. "But, this upcoming tournament is generating a lot of buzz due to the fact that Elena and Liam are participating."

"I don’t get it. What’s so special about them?" Sero’s words were muffled by the food in his mouth.

"Do you remember what I said about the global S-rank leaderboard?" Amaya made a disgusted face at Sero. "How there are 10 that are pretty much considered unparalleled in strength?"

"Sure."

"Well, Enzo’s the 10th strongest S-rank," Amaya had a faint blush on her cheeks. "And his brother Liam is somewhere among the top 15. Elena is also around that area as well."

"Oh, shit. That makes so much sense." Sero muttered to himself. Seeing Enzo’s strength earlier made him wonder just how much stronger the Demonic Judge really was.

"So, it’s natural for lower-ranked Ascendants to be hesitant about signing up. It’s like in sports; an amateur would feel better playing against a professional than a world champion."

"Huh, Enzo also used a sports comparison earlier today."

"A-anyways," Amaya turned redder and quickly changed the subject. "Because both Liam and Elena are competing, it's deterring a lot of other Ascendants from joining. I feel a little bad for Raul, since he recently just got promoted to S-rank and is being overshadowed by them."

Sero swallowed his food. "Well, that just makes your investigation easier, right? Less Ascendants means less people to track."

"True." Amaya sipped her wine and went quiet, a troubled expression on her face. "I really hope nothing goes wrong, but there's a good chance that something will happen during the tournament. Are you going to be ok?"

Sero stopped eating and set down his fork. He knew there was a big risk in him participating, but for some reason, he wasn't afraid of that at all. Rather, he was more worried that he wouldn't be able to meet the expectations that everyone had of him.

"Of course I am," Sero grinned as he lied. "I'm fucking cool."

The Ascendant Liaison didn't seem convinced. In fact, it looked like she was even more concerned.

"Hey, no worries," Sero smiled reassuringly. "I'm being trained by the best and I've got you guys to support me. I'll be fine."

"Well, if you're sure..." Amaya hesitated, then sighed. "I just want you to remember that I'm here for you if you need me. You can tell me anything, you know that. Well, almost anything."

"Thanks." Sero picked up his fork. "I always knew you cared about me."

Amaya looked like she wanted to snap back, but shook her head and downed her glass.

----------------------------------------

After getting dropped off at his apartment, Sero made sure to wash up before he talked to Aphiel.

"So, you were going to explain my passives?" He thought to Aphiel as he climbed into bed.

"Right, well, the champion Enzo was correct in his explanation of Rationality. It prevents you from succumbing to any mental attacks or disruptive emotions and keeps you calm."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Wait," Sero sat up in his bed. "Is that why those succubi charms didn't work on me? Hold on, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Ah," Aphiel sounded flustered. "W-well, that's because..."

Sero waited for her to finish. "Yes?"

"Ok, I had to ask around for an explanation! I was curious as to why the charms didn't work on you either, so I begged some gods for answers."

"Oh." Sero didn't have the heart to make a snarky comment hearing the shame in Aphiel's tone. "That's fine."

"I- what? Really?" Aphiel paused for a moment. "Um, anyways, your other passive, Influence, is a little more difficult to explain."

"How so?"

"Well, Influence supposedly enables you to copy a passive from another champion for a period of time, though there are no answers as to how you'd go about doing that."

"Pardon?" Sero choked on his spit as a dastardly glee shone in his eyes. "I can copy other passives?"

"Correct. That's pretty much all I know about Influence, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be," Sero wiped the drool from his mouth. "Just a basic explanation was enough, thanks."

"Oh. I'm glad I could help, then."

Learning about his Influence passive opened up a new world of possibilities for Sero, and he found himself too excited to sleep. He knew he should probably rest considering Enzo's intensity, but his mind kept racing with new ideas he wanted to test out.

"Hey, Aphiel?" Sero decided to try and distract himself.

"Yes, champion?"

"You said you don't need sleep the way I do, right? What do you usually do?"

"Oh," Aphiel seemed to collect her thoughts. "I often spend time with Hecate and Isis. We've been discussing the upcoming tournament and who would emerge victorious."

"Did you... choose me?"

The silence was all Sero needed to know.

"Never mind," A scowl flashed across his face. "So, you spend time with other gods and goddesses outside of talking to me?"

"Well... the lesser gods, yes. Only Hecate and Isis don't seem to mind my company." Sero detected a hint of sadness and loneliness in her tone and couldn't help but feel pity for the goddess.

"That's cool," he tried to sound upbeat. "Are you gonna go hang with them now?"

"I plan to, but I can remain here if you'd like me to."

"Nah, it's ok," Sero laid back down with his hands behind his head. "I gotta get as much rest for tomorrow."

"Very well. Good night, champion."

"Night, Aphiel."

----------------------------------------

Sero was waiting in the lounge area of the mercenary union after being dropped off by Amaya. He felt refreshed despite sleeping so late, obsessing more over the possibilities of his Influence passive.

"You're back."

Sero turned around in his seat to see Enzo standing behind him in the same black suit. The Demonic Judge had the same bored and displeased expression plastered on his face.

"Yessir." Sero stood up, eager to start despite Enzo's attitude. He had opted to drop his bomber jacket, going for athletic shorts and a simple gray t-shirt.

"Well, I commend your commitment," Enzo slipped a hand out and spread his fingers palm-down as his eyes glowed red. "You'd better keep that up."

In a blink of an eye, the pair was transported into Ma'at's personal space once again. Sero immediately crouched into a defensive stance, his fists raised.

"What are you doing?" Enzo raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "You gonna keep using your fists?"

"Oh." Sero blinked, unsure of how to answer. "I mean, I'm just doing so cause you are."

"Don't do that. If you were a melee- orientated class, then by all means, but you're a Scholar. Your biggest strength is supposedly your mind, and by proxy, your skills."

"Well... ok." Sero conjured his mana blade. Enzo gave him another questioning stare.

"You gonna cover your sword with mana?"

"I can do that?" Sero glanced at his blade.

"Holy shit," Enzo dropped his head for a moment before he looked up at Sero again. "Ok, just imagine sending your mana into your blade, but instead of letting it escape, focusing on keeping it contained."

Sero did as he was told, finding it relatively easy to do. His blade crackled with a hazy green aura.

Enzo let out a growl of approval. "That was actually not bad. You didn't struggle at all." The Demonic Judge smirked as he slipped his hands out of his pockets. "Ok, let's make a deal. I'm gonna come at you slightly more intensely than yesterday. Your goal is to deal as much damage as you can today. If you manage that, I'll show you another skill."

"Deal!" Sero immediately rushed forward, firing mana nukes directly at Enzo. Although he knew it was underhanded, he had a good feeling Enzo wouldn't be caught off guard.

However, Enzo stood there and took the nukes head on, becoming engulfed in a green smoke. Sero was shocked, but continued his assault, closing the distance quickly.

He ceased firing his mana nukes and held a palm out, casting a green Fire Blast that dwarfed and consumed the previous smoke from before. Sero finished up by launching several mana daggers and detonated them, causing the already dark green cloud to become denser. He jumped a few paces back, holding his mana-covered sword in front of him.

Enzo immediately burst forth from the smoke, not a single scratch on him. The Demonic Judge was in front of Sero's eyes before he could blink and lifted a tattooed hand up.

"Come forth, Jury."

A gigantic golden single-bladed war axe appeared in his hand, nearly the length of Enzo himself. The gleaming golden blade was as big as a car tire and it was quickly coming down on Sero's head. Enzo's eyes glowed red as Sero instinctively copied his skill.

Death. He would die. If that axe hit him, it would be all over. He needed to move.

By some miracle, Sero managed to leap off to the side as Enzo brought down his axe using the skill Revenge. As soon as the blade fell upon the sand, a deafening boom rang out in the desert. A massive shockwave trembled forth from the center of impact and Sero could barely register the sheer force of power that exploded forward from Enzo's axe as the attack whipped up a sandstorm.

After the sand had settled, Sero found himself half-buried, while Enzo was completely fine.

"Damn, I missed?" The Demonic Judge seemed slightly disappointed.

"What the fuck, you were actually trying to hit me?" Sero was indignant.

Enzo smirked as he dispersed his axe. "Hey, you were able to copy two of my skills, so it balances out."