"You…" VeLana struck a Majin that was not in the top ten, "ruined," she struck him again, "my honeymoon!" she yelled. She played to her Blessing in the best way she learned how. She rode along the ground on her steed, firing off ranged attacks, then closed the distance to utilize her Ripple Time skill. She moved during the 10 seconds as if it were 1 second and slashed her many blades as many times as possible. Redirection, Holy Slash, and Dash helped tremendously to maximize the effectiveness of the slowed time.

While being a S rank hunter, she was low S rank. Most of the powerful enemies were still above her regarding Astra and stats. However, her bought and paid for skill was essentially paid-to-win. It wasn't fair, and she didn't care. She moved about using Dancing Blades and Summon Horse, which, by the way, no one seemed to question what kind of animal that was. They just accepted it.

Tobi stepped up to the plate with his healing, even if the step was clumsy. There were just so many allies around him that he couldn't really miss. Zarrah even got lucky with a successful Good Omen on Tobi to boost the healing power. When the cooldown period was over, she took a gamble and cast Omen again, but this time on the enemy city. When she heard the Bell that Tolls, she pumped a fist. Then collapsed at the sudden loss of Astra. She had never cursed something so big, and even her S rank Astra level wasn't enough, so she took a massive hit to her health.

Kaelyn screamed and rushed to her. Seeing she was on the brink of death, she yelled for Orbi to heal her. The Majin they were fighting took the opportunity to dash in for a strike. The emerald spirit known as Emmy automatically intercepted the attack and then countered with several green glowing beams of energy. Orbi, the water spirit, used her special ability, Full Restoration, while Avriel, the Dark Spirit Knight, caught the Majin in a gravity well.

Between the increased gravity and the beams of energy, the Majin took enough damage that it tried to flee. Akoth, seeing the fleeing Majin, rocketed after him in a series of explosions that took out more than a dozen A rank monsters in his path.

Zarrah opened her eyes slowly and saw the floating city losing power in many sections and the shields failing. The walls even started to bleed, which shouldn't have been possible. The Lykaian ships got word on the defenses shutting down and turned their attention to destroying as much as possible. They targeted the mountain since they figured that was where an engine was large enough to power a city that eclipsed every known city on the Kojin side.

Akoth returned soaked in blood and announced they should find a way up to the city, but the many explosions had the others shaking their heads in the negative. Then, a new explosion, much larger than all the others, was felt more than heard, and they all looked up. Sol battled with the Lykaian King while Hiroshem and Dave took on the summoner Majin. Billows of black smoke rose from the floating city even as it started to fall out of the sky.

"Um.. guys," Kaelyn said. "I think we should retreat before that thing falls on us."

Akoth grumbled but reluctantly agreed. "But who wants to go get her?" he asked while pointing at the Paladin pretending to be a Berserker completely surrounded by dead bodies, blood, viscera, and strings of curses that put fear into her enemies. Everyone touched their nose, and Akoth grumbled again when he lost.

Jaxon had survived the city's destruction and the mountain's collapse by quick thinking and nimble acrobatics. Now, though, he was taking the fight to the monsters. Endless rounds were pumping out of the hand-held Gatling gun, spraying various colored flaming rounds. After acquiring the skills Inferno Smite and Ghostly Arc Flames to accompany his Pyro Flames, he eventually gathered Chaos Flames, Holy Flames, and regular Arc Flames.

The Holy and Chaos Flames were the hardest to obtain because they were Monster and Angel Skills. Outside of the scrolls they had discovered inside the Monster King's ring, it was thought impossible to gain those skills for the Kojin. Researching the scrolls that were not used, Jaxon was able to see how they were made. The process was very different from how Kojin made skill scrolls since that required mastery over a skill and the willingness to lose Astra in making said skill.

However, Monster Cores could be used to make monster skill scrolls. The success rate depended on the ranking of the Monster Core, which could cost the team a lot of money to buy or a lot of time hunting S rank monsters. They chose to hunt monsters despite being very wealthy. Any gains to their Astra levels were worth pursuing, after all. Plus, they could target certain types of monsters to get the right skills. It took Jaxon a few years to get the right combinations and more than a few hundred failures, but hard work paid off. As it turns out, summoning Angles and killing them dropped a different kind of Monster Core, but all the same for Jaxon's purposes.

The fires were raging out of control due to so many different effects going off, and eventually, all the Lykaians just stayed clear and let Jaxon, who was laughing maniacally, do his thing. He even modified his armor's arms that rise off the back to wield additional blasters. The bodies he burned that day would create a permanent stench that no one could cleanse.

Jaxon was normally cheery, excitable, and sometimes abrasive in his mannerisms. At other times, though, he showed a terrifying and unhesitant aptitude for violence that bordered on psychotic. Ferra loved him.

~~~

Hiroshem was heavily wounded and running on fumes. He had engaged the number 2 Tokeki and fought to a standstill. He wouldn't be sure of the final outcome if the Majin hadn't retreated. The number three Tokeki had already defeated two Lykaian S rankers but was finally struck down by a third. Upon seeing the heads of his people on spikes, Dave went into a rage despite having been cast out of his tribe. He took down numbers 6 and 7 while wounding number 8 before his wounds forced the big Tauren to retreat. Other Lykaian S rankers, including their Sages, finished the job of defeating numbers 8 and 9, along with many other regular Majin nearby. Only the number 4 Tokeki evaded combat, except for killing Zeke.

None of Zeke's team knew yet, but Hiroshem and Dave saw what went down and vowed to get revenge. So, the two retreated long enough to heal and replenish their Astra. They were confident they could take Rizen head-on, but as the fight progressed, it became increasingly clearer that Rizen wasn't a normal Tokeki. For one, he was far more powerful than those above him. But it was his intelligence that made him a deadly threat.

When Sol appeared, they thought all was lost until an explosion took down a wall nearby, and the Lykaian King stormed in, seething and foaming at the mouth. With renewed confidence, the battle continued even as the city began to fall out of the sky.

~~~

I felt like I was on the set of a Star Trek film. There were many different types of aliens, but some were so vastly strange that I thought they broke the laws of physics. Then again, here we were, so maybe the so-called laws might just be mere guidelines.

Finding someone helpful was not easy. Most just wanted to focus on their game and told me to buzz off. So, I decided to observe the games first and do some people-watching. After an hour of watching a few games, I quickly realized that, yes, I need that Soul Art unlocked. I was currently watching a dice game and learning the rules when it was revealed that each player would manipulate the dice through all three Soul Arts at numerous phases or stages, etcetera. It was a contest of soul powers more than luck. They would bet points on totals, roll, and then utilize their powers.

The Mind Soul Art has three states. The first state, Sight, was crucial to viewing your opponent's manipulations to counter them. All I could see was a struggle and eyes darting about at unseen things. I thought aura powers would be much easier, but realized I couldn't feel anyone's aura. Focusing on my own aura verified was nonexistent. Ok, so no physical body, no aura, thus no Astra… Is that why I can't utilize my skills or feel connected to most of my Blessings?

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"Yo," a human-looking ghost approached me. "You human?" he asked. He sounded like a gruff old pirate.

"I am. Are you from Earth?"

"Aye, indeed, I am. So, did Earth finally join the contest?"

By contest, I think he means whatever the system is and whatever these world rankings are. "If by contest you mean the System or World Voice that ranks worlds by levels, then I don't think so… How are you involved?" I asked in return.

"Ah, got sucked through a portal and landed in a steampunk-like world. Luckily, it was a level 1 world, and I became a Blessing user. Even got me a Sage Blessing if you can believe it."

"What level world did you, um, get to before coming here?" I asked.

"Three," he answered. "You?"

"I'm still on my first. I also got sucked through a portal."

"Wow, that is nutty. Say, your first world wasn't all fish people, was it?"

"No, they are all varying types of animal people. A lot of which resembles animals in our world."

"That is interesting," the old man mused. "The current theory is that an alien race started this whole thing. First, they seed worlds and eventually pull them into the fold of this contest."

"What is the end goal of this contest?"

"No idea. I have spoken to a few people here who have reached World Six so far, but there's always another level above them."

"That is not encouraging," I replied. "Steampunk with fish people?"

We both had a laugh. "Good folk, really. World 2 brings more interesting folk along, though. I'll not speak of it, though. Best to experience it firsthand it is." The man's eyes glimmered, and I felt something. It was strange. It wasn't harmful, but it kinda seemed like a scan. I have experienced inspection skills before, well, once, and it was unpleasant. However, it was when I was unconscious, and the probing felt like an intrusion. But since I couldn't use skills, I assumed my Conceal skill was not working. Yet whatever he did just now resembled a use of a skill. Fascinating.

"Amazing. You have two divine Blessings and another at Sage. You kill the Monster King or something?"

"Ah…"

"You did? Incredible. You must tell me the story. Oh, and I'll help you unlock that last Soul Art."

That was both a gut punch and a relief. The fact that he could gain so much from scanning me yet is so willing to hear my story as to reward me for it. I did what any man did when asked if he hung left or right.

"Yes. I can tell you that story for insight." And so, I did. I told him everything, including me being a werewolf. I used to not be so free with this information, but recent events have opened me to acceptance.

"Wow, what time period did you come from?"

"I left when it was the year 2052. Why? When do you leave?"

"The year of our lord, 1718, or thou they say. But really? 2052? I can't imagine that."

"Wait, how old are you?" I asked.

"Blessings slows the aging down, especially when you reach Soul rank 1. I am Soul rank 13. Then, there is the difference between each world's calendars. But if I had to guess, I'd say around a hundred and fifty."

"That doesn't match up with the timeline of Earth."

"It seems it doesn't. But how do we know time flows on the same timeline?"

He had a good point. I already figured out the laws of physics as we knew it was not set in stone. What if I'm not just in a different world out in the cosmos but in a different reality? The speed of light might not be the same here as it was there. Would that mean the aliens that created this whole thing are multiversal? Or is it merely space and time not flowing on a linear scale like we thought? Maybe they can travel outside the preconcerted limitations. It is possible, I suppose.

I thought about it some more. To the best of my knowledge, there had to be a first cause. An eternal cause that caused everything else. I know scientists have been trying to prove through quantum physics or mechanics that the chicken came before the egg, but even the concepts of chicken and egg had to come from something. This frightens me. What if the aliens are not just highly intelligent, advanced beings? What if they are the first cause? The eternal supernatural cause, also known as God or gods? What does that say about destiny or fate or free will? What is the purpose of life?

This will haunt me for a while to come. Supposedly, if I have a while to come. For now, I have to survive the games. "I told you my story. Can you help me with my Soul Art problem? And wait, if you left in 1718, how do you know what Steampunk is?"

"The fish people knew the term. They taught me it and their language. Also, gladly," Edward Teach said. Yes, that is right. This was the infamous Blackbeard himself, and apparently not dead… well, now kinda dead. Also, nice bloke for a murderous pirate. He offered me ectoplasm. The supreme alcoholic beverage of the in-between world.