Many teams now had scattered and had began to navigate through the terrain of hell following the instructions they were given by the demon to head to the lower floors of hell, but not all teams were able to function like this because some had begun to experience certain difficulties and because of that they were unable to progress. A good number of survivors stayed behind and among the survivors to do this were the ones known as the kings of men. Yes, the kings of men had stayed back along with the other survivors but not because they could not progress, it was more like they sat there waiting for something. Amongst the rubble and rocks they sat there patiently and with confidence as though they had all the time in the world. The other survivors seeing this felt weary and thought they could not be trusted and because of that stayed away from them, but were always close enough to keep an eye on them.
The teams who still had their eyes on them and their guards up still couldn't feel at ease. Knowing how many had died in their first games coupled with the fact that these kings of men had also received gifts for their performances in their first games made them restless. No matter how you looked at it, these people couldn't be trusted, and what made matters worse was how they all smiled so cheerfully despite knowing what was coming and the situation they were faced with. They had the smiles of people hoping for and looking forward to a fight.
"How can they not feel the same unease and anxiety as the rest of us?" whispered one of the survivors in the crowd.
"Are just weak hearted and spirited?" asked another survivor
"No, no. that can't be it" another denied
The survivors planted the feeling inside themselves and strongly believed they were in the right to be afraid and the kings of men were in the wrong. They were wrong for not being able to shear the fears, pressures, worries, unease, concerns, questions, and thoughts of everyone else. And the thought that was on everyone's mind at that moment? Could these demons be trusted? A simple question but one which crossed everyone's minds. As simple as the question was it wasn't as simple to answer. This thought affected everyone but the people it likely affected the most where two men whose presence was not recognized until now and who's names were unknown, nevertheless they were also participating in these death games.
These strangers seemed to be more worried than anyone else. Everyone had an air of worry to them but for these two men the fear was practically dripping down their face. They felt the situation was something they might have been able to change but knew there was nothing they could do on their own. Upon realizing this they decided to go out and share their concerns along with what they felt might be the solution to their problems with everyone they could. They set out and spread out the information to everyone they could and after they had done this for a while they were nowhere to be seen. They had disappeared after only sharing their thoughts for what was most likely thirty minutes. This was strange but what made it even stranger was that they were not the only ones missing. The kings of men had also disappeared from the spot they had been sitting. This was a problem, the two figure heads who were to lead the survivors on what action to take to deal with their problems had suddenly vanished. It was concerning. Yes, it was very concerning but not concerning enough that it would prevent the other survivors from banding together and looking for a way to solve the problem.
The survivors had come together and felt that they could handle the rest on their own but they did not want to leave the two spear heads of this gathering out of it. To put their fears behind them, they let themselves believe that the two men had not died or disappeared but simply they had gone to tell other survivors who were further out from where they were. Believing this allowed them to put their hearts and minds at ease and gave them the strength to hope for the best. They believed, once they had decided on what must be done and which directions to take they would find the two men or the men would arrive from their search for others and they would inform them of their decision.
"What about the kings of men…They are missing to aren't they?" A survivor asked
"And I'm glad to be rid of them, I hope we never have to see their faces again" another replied
"Don't say that! Their still people like us you know" the survivor from earlier on said
"Well if they do show up again do you think we should tell them what we know?"
"No, they are more than capable of handling themselves. Hopefully they are killed by some creature out there. If they end up being in the direction were headed and they are dead we can take their suits for ourselves"
"But what if their alive? Or come back?"
"Then we jump them. With our numbers we should be more than capable injuring three if not four and killing one if not two. We can take the arrogant bastards suits off them and gain their powers"
"I don't feel this is a good idea"
"Don't be a coward Jeremiah, their just men"
"And what if they don't come back or are not on the route we decide to take?" Jeremiah asked
"Then were on our own"
The others seemed okay with this plan and agreed with it and continued their conversation as planned. As they went on discussing the issues they were facing and how best to solve them, things seemed to be headed for the worst. They realized quickly that they only had two options. They would either
Go up the floors of hell and head in the opposite directions they were given. Or
Head down the floors as instructed
Seeing as they were faced with nothing but two options that didn't even give them much room to make a choice they became enraged and restless. Their patience became a short candle that slowly started to burn out. Fear and exhaustion pushed them to the brink and breaking point of their sanity. It was like being on the edge of a cliff, all they needed was one little push to spiral down into sheer insanity.
Before long the talks turned violent, discussions turned to debates, debates turned to arguments, arguments turned to quarrels and exchange of slurs, and finally that turned to bloodshed and extreme violence. The survivors began to fight amongst themselves because they could not agree on what to do or where to go, because of this, factions were formed. The first faction, supported the first option of going above instead of below, to them it made more sense that the higher you would go the closer you would be to escaping to earth. The second faction, supported the option of going down the lower floors. To them it was more logical to listen to the only people who knew the terrain of hell than to trust their own instincts. These two options had now started a civil war, the frustration of not being able to choose freely had caused them to unnecessarily kill each other. But they did not know they actually had a third option, a third option that they had already put into place and were acting out in that moment. This third option would be for them to waste their time needlessly in that location and have the chimera attack them and for every survivor there to die.
Yes, the chimera that had been mentioned before the start of the games were on their way and approaching them at incredible speeds. Drawn in by the smell of blood the survivors were spilling, their bloodstained weapons, the blood-soaked ground and their clothes covered in it. They had no idea they were preparing a banquet for the chimera and the food was serving itself.
The fighting continued and it seemed as though for a while there was no end in sight to the violence. It was at that moment one of the survivors fighting fell on his back after fending off and killing several attackers. When he fell over the final attacker he killed fell on him, to tired to move the dead body he simply laid there and did nothing. When he looked up from the ground he noticed that above him shadowy figures were hovering. He pushed the body off of him and sat up to get a better look of the figures. He squinted his eyes and after squinting long enough he realized that above him were the kings of men. At first, he doubted his eyes, so, he cleaned them with his backhand and checked again. Without a doubt, they were the kings of men who had disappeared earlier on. Though he couldn't see their face he was able to identify them by their wings and uniform. They were the only ones with blue jumpsuits, not only that but one of them in particular had an axe, but he didn't know that king in particular was Maya. Maya, holding it noticed the man beneath her and smiled
"Hello?!"
The man yelled but received no response
"Helloooo?!" He yelled again
"So, you saw us. You must have really good eyes" the king with the axe answered
"Uh…Um, thank you"
"What is your name?" the king asked
"Thomas, its Thomas. Pardon me but I just have to ask. Are you not the kings of men?"
The king smiled and chuckled. The bright smile was so clean that Thomas, from the distance he was standing could see it as clear as the bodies around him. the sight of this sent shivers down Thomas spine. Maya then responded
"Would telling you make you happy?"
Thomas stepped back, unsure of what action to take next. He started to sweat, the grin from Maya's face was still there. Thomas panicked and his body went into a primal survival state. In the face of fear, he went into every human's factory default setting and began to shout for help
"Help! Help!" he yelled out
"Someone! Come quick. The kings… the kings of men, they're here!"
All the survivors who heard Thomas screams and cries for help quickly stopped what they were doing. Even those who were mere seconds away from killing each other all ran to him to assist him. As everyone gathered to see the kings of men, the kings decided to float a bit closer to them. All the kings came a bit closer to the ground so everyone could see, all but one figure who remained above all and hovered in the shadows. As the survivors gathered beneath the glory of the kings of men, they began to yell and challenge them saying all sorts of things to them and doubting if they truly have the power they claim to have or have the power that has been boasted about. Isabel asks her fellow kings
"What do you think? Do we demonstrate our power to them since they challenge us to do so?"
Cayafaz adjusts his glasses and in response "Do what you want, but I wont waste my time or my power on these fools"
"Alright then I can count you out Cayafaz, how about you Ethan?"
"Sorry but if Edward isn't interested I'm sitting this one out"
"Ugh, fine. I guess if none of you are interested then w…-"
"Now wait just one second Isabel" Maya says "I want to play with these guys"
"Really? Never took you for the type Maya, what happened?"
"I don't know… I just have this urge… this thirst to try out this weapon and this looks like the perfect time to do it"
"Um…Well…Ok, lets just see if the big guys for it"
Isabel turns back to check with Edward if he wants in. but he gives no response and just hovers there with his eyes closed.
"Well… it seems like we won't get a response from him. Go for it"
"Alright"
Maya tucks her wings and falls like a stone to the floor. She lands firmly on her feet and shakes the ground. The survivors step back, the smoke clears and Maya is standing there with her hand firmly gripping her axe
"Well? What are you waiting for? An invitation? Come on, you wanted to test my power so here I am! Come at me!"
The survivor's bare pride so they refuse to step down from a fight. Especially since they issued up the challenge. A pretty muscular fighter sets his sight on a pretty sizeable obese corps. He runs for the corps while others run to Maya to distract her, he gets to the corps and removes its insides filling it with rocks meanwhile, the distractions sent to give the fighter sometime were not even worth Maya using her axe. She dropped the axe head first into the ground and left it to stand while she used her martial art skills to singlehandedly deal with the distractions in less than a minute. By the time she was done, the heavy fighter had finished his mission and began to spin the dead body around. He spun with so much force he created a whirlwind. Maya can't help but get excited at the sight of this
"Perfect… I can't tell you how perfectly you have all played your parts. Fodder characters in a script of my design. The more you struggle the better you play your parts. Its all futile, but yet…I can't help but be amused!"
Maya said as she grabbed her axe and yanked it out the ground
"Don't waste this chance! Make this worth my time"
The man yelled as he hurled the body towards her. The force of the corpse approach was like a human sized bowling ball being launched by a trebuchet. Maya spun her axe in her left hand then twirled it, threw it into the air and caught it with her right hand while it was still in the air. When she caught it, the axe was in position for a downward strike. She wasn't planning to dodge then attack, she wasn't planning to avoid the attack, she planned to take the attack head on with her own power.
"What the hell?" The muscular man asked
"Is her pride that much that she refuses to get out of the way? Does she really think she can stop that body that I swung at full force? She is full of herself!"
Thomas then told the muscular man "If she really is full of herself she will die once she comes in contact with your attack, but if she is really as powerful as they say…then what were about to see will probably be the only demonstration…of the kings of men frightening power"
"Tsk! Whatever. I, Demos, am more than confident in my strength and my ability to throw. I will even put down my life as proof of my faith in my strength"
"Really?" Maya asked with a joyful smile "Well if you're that determined, who am I to stop you. Just prepare yourself to die at the end"
The corpse is now only a few inches away from her but not within the reach of her axe. She plants her left foot in front of her firmly into the ground and shouts
"As a parting gift, I'll show you something cool before you die!"
She drops her arm with little to no force, but yet a gust of wind comes blasting when the axe meets the floor. The ground shakes under their feet and the corpse slows down but continues to move towards her. Just before the corpse reaches her face though, it splits into two and passes her by on both sides
Demos begins to stutter in shock "B-Bbbb-bbbuu-bbbuuu…How is that possible!"
The body not only passed her but as it did the rocks from within the corpse busted through the body and sent pieces of bone, blood and violent debris of rock are sent flying in every direction. The corpse then falls behind her as nothing but an empty husk
"I knew it…the power of the kings of men are the real deal. I was full of myself thinking we could kill them and take it. if they wanted just one of them could kill us in a heartbeat" Thomas thought to himself
Maya stood up straight and looked at Demos with a smile saying
"You should be more careful when you put your life on the line"
Maya made that statement in satisfaction as Demos started to bleed from the center of his forehead downward in a straight line. Demos touched his head and was shocked to see blood
"What did you do to me?" Demos started to cry softly
"You know, I like the name Demos. I hope to give It to someone I like someday. You were pretty strong but… a normal man could never hope to beat a king"
Demos splits in half and falls to the ground. For a while it silent because most people are in shock and haven't realized that the person who could kill them all is standing right in front of them. They fail to grasp this until one of Demos's eyes roles to a woman's feet and she screams. After the sudden scream everyone is brought back to their senses and begin to stare at Maya with great fear
"How…How did you kill Demos? You didn't even touch him"
"I didn't need to. I sent out a slashing force directly at him when I dropped my axe. It passed through the corpse and went to him next, but the force I used was so little and my swing was so slow that his body hadn't even realized it. His veins, muscles, bones and other parts took a bit more time to cut because of that so his death wasn't instant"
"What a frightening strength…Are the rest of the kings just as powerful as well? Wait…that just now wasn't her full power. Her swing was slow on purpose…"
The more Thomas dissected the situation the more fear he felt. He couldn't even bring himself to say anything, but he felt like a fool for thinking he could have challenged them. He began to think of the terms of their surrender when all of a sudden
"You bastards!" a woman from behind yelled. Maya who had been smiling all through heard this and wore a look of displeasure on her face
"Excuse me?" Maya asked
The woman went on saying "You heard me you proud, flying, bastards! Who the hell do you think you are? Do you believe because you have power it makes you better than us? It makes you special?"
"And who the hell might you be?"
"Maryam, I am the voice of those who will bot speak because their tongues have been held by fear. We are all human and need to help each other. We are all weak and confused with no idea how to make it out of here, but yet you who call yourselves kings of men cause fighting amongst us and then even go as far as to kill your subjects!? If you do not wish to help us fine but if your truly just and benevolent kings one of you would at least give us your suits so we can save ourselves"
"Ho?" Cayafaz said as he adjusted his glasses
"Subjects? All confused? Help you? Take care of yourselves? I'm afraid all of what you're saying doesn't make one bit of sense to me. Were you not all just killing yourselves not to long ago? Were you not all brought together by two men not to long ago? Did they not help you, co-ordinate yourselves? And what exactly makes you believe you're our subjects or that we were confused? You had a plan of your own before we were involved and you left us out of it"
"W-What are you talking about?"
Ethan floats down and sits with his legs crossed on an erecting pillar and said
'With our numbers we should be capable of injuring three if not four and killing one if not two' Ethan smiled as he finished his statement. A survivor then responded
"Yo-You heard that?"
"Oh, we did. We heard everything. You say we didn't help you when we personally took the time to remove those seeds from doing what they were doing. You say all confused, but from the beginning we've known where to go. Because you couldn't agree on directions you started to needlessly kill yourselves over a simple disagreement!" Isabel said in frustration
Maya continued "You all wasted so much time over thinking something so simple it's sad really, why would you doubt the only people who can navigate the strange terrain of hell because you felt they were lying? From the beginning the game was already rigged and never in our favor, there was never a way for us to win. That was not going to change just by lying about directions"
"Wait…You said you removed seeds…what seeds are you talking about?"
The remaining kings of men but Edward float down and stand or sit or squat on pillars, then Cayafaz looks to his left and his right then explains
"We don't have time so I'll make this quick. Those men who shared their worries about direction. Those were low level demons with the ability to change shape. They were sent by demons who were meant to be players in the second death games to sow seeds of distrust and frustration in your hearts so you would be led towards them were you would be turned into food. We removed them after we discovered their plan, interrogated them and killed them"
"There's no way that's true! your lying! Those men wanted to help us"
Cayafaz responds "I don't need you to believe me. if you doubt me and do what they wanted of you it isn't really my concern, after all I'm not the one getting eating"
"Tsk!"
"But at least take a look at their bodies for yourselves and decide if their human"
Cayafaz points to a spot with rocks and rubble that seems to form some sort of shrine, low and behold are two humanoid looking demons with their bodies filled and riddled with holes on top. All the survivors approach it and are shocked to see this. Maryam and Thomas most especially. The kings of men, who they believed thought of them as nothing but insects were actually helping them and protecting them this entire time
"So, it is true" Thomas said about ready to cry
"Yes