The Designer brought in the last human, the man in the beret. He was entering his spiral portal of black and purple.
But before he could meet his Entity, the Designer whispered something in his ear and pushed him into the portal.
Then the God reached out his arm, opened his palm and ejected the small triangle.
The object expanded to the same size that allowed the humans to protect themselves from the crimson rain. On top, the blood and organs were compacted, which drastically reduced the downpour to a large pool of blood.
"I know you're still here. Gezel"
A huge arm rose from the pool of blood and then another clung to the edge, to bring out a monstrous colossus.
The 20 meter giant had red skin like the blood pool and a body doped with steroids. He had four arms and a tail in the form of an organic claymore.
His clothing consisted of an executioner's hood and his stocking was made of burlap.
Around his neck, Gezel wore a necklace made of the 5 vital organs of the human body. The brain, the heart, the lungs, the liver, the pancreas and the kidneys.
"Don't ever do that trick to me again, Designer. These humans have such weak and tiny bodies" he said in a deep voice filled with negative emotions.
"It's not my fault that the algorithm picks you out of the 500 Entities. Humans only understand violence. We needed to make an example to make them understand that their lives were in the balance. And it's not my fault, you're just unlucky"
Gezel glared at him with a contemptuous look " You fucking God of Entertainment. You always take this kind of thing like it's just a game"
The Designer's expression changed to a :( reversed meaning his irony "Maybe... because it is"
Gezel approached at an incredible speed for his big, heavy body. He pointed his tail at less than an inch from his helmet "Don't mistake me for one of the candidates. I could kill you before you even realize that your head is cut off"
His mask flashed a sarcastic smile X) "Honestly, coming from the Pulse of Murder, it touches me from the bottom of my metallic heart. But unfortunately..."
Suddenly a notification appeared between them.
[ It is impossible for Entities to fight each other ]
[ Warning, any other violation of the rules will create punishments for the candidate and the Designer ]
The giant gritted his teeth "If it weren't for these stupid rules, I would have cut out your cybernetic implants, peeled off your skin, and sectioned off every single muscle in your body just to watch you die of pain, Designer"
'Lovely...'
The Pulse of Murder put his sword-tail back behind him, walked towards the pool of blood and let himself sink into it.
The God of Entertainment waved goodbye to him "And to think there are worse people than him'
Now alone, the cyborg cracked his knuckles "Now the real work begins"
***
Maalick woke up on white polished stone slabs. He was still confused because of what had just happened "What a bastard this Designer"
A deep and harsh voice answered him "We agree on that at least"
Instinctively, the soldier got up and moved into a defensive position.
Maalick saw a man with a Mediterranean complexion, around thirty years old, bald with a well-groomed lumberjack beard. He had a gash from his right eye that went diagonally down to who knows where.
His black eyes were toughened, as if he had seen and lived through far too much war.
He was muscular and probably about six feet tall.
On his body he had a thousand scars scattered about.
Maalick noticed that he had suffered of almost any wound 'Burn, slash, bullet hole. But who is this guy to have so many scars seriously ?'
The man reminded him of a veteran, with his military boots and jungle fatigues hanging from his two-tone black and gold belt. He was also wearing a white tank top.
Then Maalick analyzed his surroundings.
He was in a sort of luxurious New York apartment coupled with a temple of Antiquity. But he noticed something wrong in his landscape 'There is no personal element in his home'
"Yeah, that's because I hate them."
Maalick was caught off guard "Can you read my mind too? Like the Designer?"
The person in front of him replied "Just yours. Think of it as a way of communication and can you imagine me, a God of War, having that kind of power?"
The God walked to another room of his apartment, without waiting for Maalick.
A lot of questions were running through his brain when he caught up with him. But only one came out of his mouth "So... what's your name?"
The Mediterranean man sighed, "Technically, I am registered as Ares, the God of War and Destruction. But call me by my Roman name, Mars. I hate it when people use my Greek homologue"
The candidate got the message perfectly. He didn't like it when people used a name that he didn't want to hear.
Both of them arrived in a huge room, where layers of protective floor carpets covered it. Weapons of all eras and types and equipment were hung on the walls.
At far on the right, Maalick saw the place where he had spent most of his time "A gym"
"This place is a space dedicated to physical and mental training. But that's not why I bring you here" Mars pursued.
In the middle of the room, the Olympian took a stack of papers in his hand "The papers you are looking at are a summary of your past and what you need to do to get a piece of my power. I haven't read it yet."
"What are you waiting for then?" asked Maalick.
"You see, candidate, the problem is that I didn't want to be here. So I don't give a damn about playing this shitty game"
'What? Why doesn't he want to play the game?! That doesn't make sense with what the Designer told us!'
The SAS agent quickly responded by contradicting him 'You can't do that. The Designer told us that we can't refuse to play the game, and knowing that there are 500 candidates for 500 Entities. I guess that goes for the Gods too."
Mars enlightened his lantern "To answer your first question, I have personal reasons and your little argument is worthless. If you don't have some of my power before the 30 last minutes. You will be sent to Lockarte, devoid of all your memories and defenseless" pointing to the clock behind him.
Maalick looked at the time, it was 11:30 pm.
He thought to himself 'There must be a way to get that damn pile of sheets...'
Then a flash of genius struck him, like Zeus' lightning bolt splitting the sky "You're expecting something from me, aren't you?"
Mars smiled slightly "I want you to beat me"
"What?!"
"You have three minutes to prepare yourself and another ten minutes to attack. Of course I'll put some restrictions on myself"
Mars listed the things he wouldn't be able to do with his fingers "I couldn't get out of this little square. I would only be dodging your attacks, as well as not using telepathy. You can use any weapons and stratagems to win. If you can touch me, you'll know how to get my power"
'How am I supposed to defeat a God of War with only 13 minutes?!'
"To give you an extra advantage, you can use the System Inventory. Just put an item in there and it will be stored automatically"
Mars didn't give Maalick a break. He started counting down "It starts in 3, 2, 1..."
During these three seconds, Maalick took a deep breath and cleared his mind 'Let's start by taking a look around. The floor is plastered with foams. There's an arsenal of weapons on all sides, and I can use what he calls the "Inventory" "
Mars shouted "Go!" to show that the challenge had begun.
The candidate began to build a plan with the little time he had. His strategy required more and more thread to complete his project. Then after much thought, he was ready.
Maalick removed from the wall a handgun, a Glock 17 with 4 cartridges, a military knife, 2 throwing knives as well as 7 stun grenades, explosives and dummies, which he put side by side on the mossy floor.
'Inventory'
In front of him was a window like the one in his status. Except that it was filled with many small blurred boxes and 5 visible ones.
Maalick started to put one of his cartridges in one of the boxes, and as Mars said, the item was stored 'This is amazing! With this my plan will be so much easier!'
The young man began to put his tools away. However, when he wanted to put the explosive grenades with the stunners, he had a problem.
[ Error ]
[ You can't put two different items in the same box ]
'I understand a little bit better how the Inventory works now. I can store the same one object multiple times in the same box. But not different items together'
Maalick asked his Entity "Can I take some equipment?"
The God of War was lying with his hands on the back of his neck, looking at the lights of his room "You can only take a holster"
'Perfect' thought the soldier.
The SAS agent took the holster from the wall and put it on. He began to get the feeling of having military equipment on him again. He put the Glock in the holster on his hip and began to draw it a few times, to make sure he hadn't lost his grip.
Then he put away in order, inside the inventory, those 4 cartridges, the 7 stun grenades and explosives, his 2 throwing knives and the military knife.
As for the dummies, he put them back 'I'll have to do it without them'
At the same time, Mars warned him "Your time is up".
As he said this, the British special forces soldier threw two stun grenades into the air. They emitted a noise and a flash that could deafen any man at that distance.
But Mars was a God, he looked in Maalick's direction "I see. You try to confuse my senses and then I imagine you will..."
The child of Hera and Zeus heard the sound of the trigger being pulled by Maalick.
The God of War narrowly avoided it, minimizing his movements to conserve his energy as if he was in a real fight "Your plan would have been a success on a mortal, but I am a..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Maalick threw two explosive grenades at him.
In the smoke screen caused by the explosion, he threw his throwing knives.
Maalick heard them fly away in the wind without touching his Entity 'Blood hell. I didn't think he would take me seriously'
The smoke began to disappear and Mars was not touched.
"I told you before, your plan would have been great against mortals. But against the Gods it won't work. Your approach is too... academic"
The soldier reloaded his Glock and began to shoot. He did this three times, aiming at different parts of his body 'With this, I could see some a part his true strength' while emptying his entire bullets into the smokescreen.
Maalick threw the Glock away from where he was running, "With this, I should gain at most half a second. If he hears the sound of the trigger, then he should hear this'
Mars sighed, "You could at least think of another way to touch me, don't you think?" as he turned his head to the right.
To his surprise, he saw Maalick running towards him through the smoke, a military knife in his hand and grenades with the pins removed in his holster.