Coming to his senses, Nilrem felt dazed and confused.
He was in the middle of seemingly nowhere, laying onto some grassless dirt with nothing in sight at all.
No blood sea in sight and no floating buildings.
Two perfect mana spheres laying beside himself, he finally managed to piece things back together.
After the lesser sin had crashed through the room and killed the craving one, Nilrem had noticed himself losing consciousness as well as becoming somewhat ethereal, swiftly, he had grabbed two of the spheres in a hurry before everything had gone dark.
He had been transported elsewhere but he wasn't certain where exactly he was.
However, he was quick to make light of his situation, the mana in the air was no longer oversaturated and hostile, he wasn't inside of Gluttony's subspace anymore, he was back in the real world.
He looked around for some sort of landmark, finding a familar mountain side in the distance, it became clear.
He had been brought back right where he had swallowed by Gluttony, this vast expense of nothing was where the academy once stood.
He looked down at the two spheres he had brought back with him, these two weren't the best choices he could have made but he had been pressed for time and he believed they would work as he had intended.
Even though he had known the academy had been devoured, seeing the emptiness it left behind stung his heart, knowing that what the great magus had worked so hard to make prosper was completely gone, without a trace.
Breathing in, he placed one hand on each of the two spheres, these elements weren't common ones, in fact, Nilrem wasn't certain what their actual names was, he could only sense their purpose.
The one on his left seemed to have something to do with copying while the other seemed to be all about restoration, making use of the seemingly boundless mana kept inside each of the two spheres, rocks and furnitures started to appear out of thin air, being put together fluidly.
With little usage of his own mana, Nilrem was slowly but surely recreating the academy from scratch, it was impressive but whether this elements were unfit or because Nilrem wasn't good enough, nothing could bring back the dead.
The academy of Aeraliun was brought back but its hallways were empty and silent, no students and no teachers, it had lost its life.
As the last piece was put into place, Nilrem's palms suddenly touched the ground, confused he looked around but there was nothing, the spheres had suddenly vanished.
'They weren't nearly close to being emptied though' thought Nilrem, even such an herculean spell hadn't consumed even a sliver of the mana contained inside of the spheres.
'Huh, no matters... I need to get to work' he thought as he looked at the restored academy then down to himself.
'And I also need a bath...' he remarked to himself, still covered in blood.
___________________
"Aah, my head... Where am I?" spoke Iustus out loud, feeling himself stuck and surrounded by nothing but darkness.
His right hand was free to move around but something was wrapped his wrist and forearm, it was strange, it was as if it had been wrapped in some sort mettalic bandages.
He could feel the same thing around his neck and ankles, his could turn his head around, however, his legs were perfectly restrained.
He remembered losing against Occult, again, it was quite distressing to still get his ass kicked so easily but his newfound situation was a bit more distressing than that, he was still alive, which was strange in of itself.
However, he seemed completely stuck in some dark and seemingly quite humid room, his powers seemed to be sealed or blocked off, perhaps this was what those strange metal bandages were for.
He could feel that he was bound to some sort of wooden chair, he tried to shake it but it wouldn't move, most likely bolted to the ground, even without his mana he should be able to easily shatter a chair like that, but nothing was to be done, he was incapable of even making the wood creak.
He noticed something and listened, he could hear someone breathing through something in front of him, he tried to reach forward but his arm wasn't able to reach whoever or whatever this might be.
Iustus was suddenly blinded as many lights were turned on in the room, he saw dots in his vision for a few seconds as someone in front of him started shaking abruptly, seemingly terrified and confused, this guy must have out of it until now.
Iustus quickly noticed why his left hand couldn't be moved, it was stuck inside of a wooden box, just like everything else, it wouldn't budge as he tried to batter it open with his free hand.
"Wh- What the hell? Where am I?" spoke the man in front of Iustus, clearly panicked as he tried to break free from his restrains, to no success.
His head was wrapped in small ropes, which obscured his face, covering part of his mouth and nose as well.
He tried to tear them off but it also didn't go anywhere, everything around here seemed to unmovable.
Without him noticing a thing, someone put their hands on Iustus's shoulder, clear a hand wearing a glove.
"Gentlemen! Welcome! How are you all? Iustus? Random citizen?" asked a man as he walked to the side, right next to the wooden boxes, Iustus hadn't paid attention but the other man's hands were in the same disposition as him, only reversed.
"My name is Ilias and who the hell are you? Did you do something to-" the man, which was apparently named Ilias spoke but the man was unfazed.
"Shhh, this isn't about you! Keep silent, now... You two are going to play my favorite game, ever heard of blackjack?" Iustus scanned who must be their captor, he was wearing a brown waistcoat and a pants of the exact same color, a white shirt and a red tie, they seemed filthy and old.
Covering his head was a square-like potato bag with two dark spots, that must have been holes for the eyes, although nothing was visible through them.
He raised his arms before slamming them into the wooden boxes.
"No? As expected, the rules are very simple... Each of you starts with two cards, one is hidden from your opponent while the other is visible, like all the other you'll get after that..."
"Each card has a number on them, from one to eleven, there is only one card for each number and you share the same deck, the goal is to be as close from twenty one with the total of your cards but without surpassing that number, get it?" the man chuckled at the end as he leaned forward and stared at each of them for a few seconds.
"Simple enough right? There are also special cards, their usage will be written on them and their content will only be known by the one receiving it, until you uses it that is, you can use those during your turn as much as you want, am I forgetting something?" he then stretched his head back while keeping his hands on the boxes.
"Ah yes, during your turn, you either pick a random card from the deck or you pass your turn, when you both pass without using any special cards, it will be the end of the turn and the winner will be decided" he let out another light chuckle.
"Any question?" he asked in a suddenly much more sinister tone after loudly sighing.
"What are we playing for?" asked Iustus, cutting off Ilias.
"Good question! You have more brain that I thought!" he laughed as easily lifted the wooden boxes, revealing what was beneath.
Some sort of machine was mounted around their hands, some sort of spike was right above the center of the back of their hands and some blades were waiting right in front of their fingers, placed right before the spaces in between their fingernails and fingers.
"You two will be betting a little bit of pain, the first one to pass out, loses, good luck" just like that, the sack headed man walked off into the darkness.
"Hey... Do you think that psycho is serious?" asked Ilias but the sound of the man voices sounded throughout the whole room, announcing the start of the game.