"…I have chosen to not become a champion."
Once Finn said this, the three gods, whose names he already knew, deeply frowned.
"Hahaha! That is also a fine choice, don't you think everyone?!"
A gorgeous woman that looked like she was in her late thirties laughed while not bothering to cover her mouth.
She was wearing a dress made out of vines and flowers. Her hair looked like it was made out of extremely thin brown roots, and if she didn't have her beautiful face, Finn would assume she was a big plant.
'That's Sefira, Goddess of Life, Mother nature, Great mother of all living beings… whatever you want to call her.'
Loki introduced Sefira to Finn as she kept laughing, but the other gods didn't share her joy.
"I have come to look at you, but it seems that I have wasted my time."
Finn turned his head to the right, and he saw the last person of the Heavenly Five.
There sat a tall, handsome man with a chiseled face.
His long, raven-black hair and sharp features made him look like one of those idols that Finn was used to seeing on TV.
The only thing that was a little off-putting about him were his eyes.
When Finn first saw the man's eyes, they were red like blood, but every time the man blinked, they would change color. From blood-red to yellow, like the color of the sun.
Finn thought that they were even shining like two stars, but before he could admire them more, they quickly changed back to red with another blink.
The man was wearing a black robe that was slightly baggy, so it covered his body, but what couldn't be covered were his beautiful black wings.
He only had one pair of them, but Finn knew that the person in front of him wasn't a low-ranking angel.
'That is Lucifer. He has many nicknames, the First Angel, the Fallen Angel, the Devil... But contrary to his nicknames, he is actually the God of Light.'
When Finn heard Loki, he remembered that he had read about Lucifer in his previous life, and one of his nicknames that he had found interesting was Light Bringer.
But before he could think more about the handsome god in front of him, an aged voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"We have already told you that Second Life was created for the sole purpose of us choosing a champion, so by rejecting a championship you are also rejecting the game that you seem very fond of playing."
Chronos spoke up, using a slightly threatening voice, to change Finn's opinion.
"I completely understand, but I don't want to join your champion game."
Finn guessed that Chronos was threatening him with a ban, but he didn't back down.
"You don't understand jackshit, child! You don't have a choice, so just pick a god already!"
Chronos snapped at Finn and discarded his image of a kind old man immediately.
Asteria, the Goddess of Stars, and Anubis, the God of Death, didn't stop Chronos because they still hoped that Finn would pick them.
While Finn was thinking about what to say, Sefira suddenly intervened.
"I think we should leave him alone. Think about it. He did say that he wouldn't choose a god, but that is also a good thing for us."
Asteria looked at Sefira and opened her mouth.
"Elaborate."
"We all agree that this human called Finn is currently the most powerful player there is. Winning the tournament, owning the strongest guild, being a gang boss or entering the Elvish continent, which is supposed to not accept humans."
When Sefira spoke of Finn's achievements, all the gods nodded.
"While the other players are trying to raise their levels in a dungeon, this human is racking up achievements that should have been impossible to do this early on."
Sefira pointed at Finn, but Chronos frowned.
"Get to the point."
"Calm down, gramps. I was about to say it."
She winked at Chronos but received a scoff in return.
"Well anyway… If a strong human like that chooses a god, then the game won't be fun anymore because if a god starts supporting the strongest human with even stronger skills, it will just break the game balance, so him not picking a god is actually beneficial for the game."
Sefira smiled and continued.
"Also, I don't know about you guys, but when I first heard of him, the first thing I thought was, "If I can't have him as my champion, then no one can," so even though I would still like him as my champion, I am okay with this arrangement."
The other gods began agreeing with Sefira.
Asteria expressionlessly nodded her head, Anubis made a "Hrmm" sound, and Lucifer remained sitting like an unmovable statue, but his black wings flapped a little.
Only Chronos kept frowning. He just couldn't accept any other human becoming his champion after he had already set his eyes on Finn.
"No! I think we should force him into choosing a god!"
The other gods looked at Chronos with bored eyes because they had already expected that the stubborn old man wouldn't give up so easily.
"Then let's do it like always. We vote."
Lucifer opened his mouth, and even though no sound came out, Finn could still hear Lucifer's voice inside his head.
"Agreed. Let's begin."
Anubis nodded, and Chronos's frown deepened even further because he already knew what the outcome of the voting would be.
"Please raise your right hand if you are okay with Finn not becoming a champion, and if you want to force him into a championship, please raise your left hand."
Sefira's chirpy voice filled the silent atmosphere around the table, and she raised her right hand. The others followed her lead and also raised their hands.
"Three people agree with Finn not becoming a champion. One person abstains, and one is against, so the verdict is that Finn won't become a champion."
Sefira, Anubis, and Lucifer raised their right hands.
Chronos raised his left hand with a sour expression, furious that things weren't going the way he wanted them to.
Meanwhile, Asteria wanted to raise her right hand, but she felt like it would be too much work and could tire her body out, so she decided not to bother.
"It seems that your wish came true, kiddo. If you ever change your mind, just say my name while praying!"
Sefira, the Goddess of Life, winked at Finn and disappeared into green light particles.
"This was a waste of my precious time. I should have just stayed home with my husband."
Lucifer stood up from his chair, and after looking at Finn with a bored expression one last time, he let his wings envelop him, and he too disappeared into light particles.
"Death is inevitable, so we shall meet again one day, child of man."
Anubis didn't even bother standing up, and he transformed himself into dust that flew away.
"Recommend someone."
Finn thought that Asteria would disappear without talking, but she asked him to recommend someone instead.
She decided that if she couldn't have Finn, she wanted someone else who was also strong, and the only person she knew that she could ask was Finn.
He was startled for a second, so he didn't answer immediately, but after thinking for a bit, he answered with a smile.
"You should contact my girlfriend. She is also the vice leader of my guild. Her in-game name is NotSophie, and I think you will get along great."
Finn imagined the emotionless goddess communicating with his emotionless girlfriend and chuckled to himself.
"Look and decide."
Asteria slightly nodded her hand and turned into billions of stars that looked like they slowly lost their brightness, and she faded into nothingness.
'That probably meant "I will go look at her and decide based on what I see.".'
Finn guessed what the goddess meant to say and looked at the last god remaining.
Chronos was glaring at Finn, and he looked nothing like when Finn met him for the first time.
He was clenching his fists and biting his lips with bloodshot eyes.
Finn didn't understand what he had done to warrant such hatred, because refusing to be a champion shouldn't have been that big of a deal.
'That old man hates losing, and he also hates when things don't go his way, so he must be furious right now. Not only did you reject him, but you also embarrassed him in front of the other powerful gods.'
'I didn't mean to embarrass anyone though.'
Surprised, Finn tried to correct Loki, but it was too late.
'Well, he doesn't see it that way.'
Loki chuckled while looking at the old god, but Finn didn't think of it as a laughing matter.
Old man or not, he was still a god, and he even was one of the five most powerful gods, so angering such a person was a death sentence.
'You can chill out. Not only is he tied down by the game's rules, but now that the other four gods have agreed to you not being a champion, they will protect you from his attacks... to an extent.'
Before Finn could ask what "to an extent" meant, Chronos finally calmed his nerves.
His face was as cold as ice this time as he stared at Finn's visage.
Suddenly he started holding his face with his hand, and he bent his back forward.
"kukuku… HAHAHAHAHA!"
A loud, bone-piercing laughter echoed around Finn, and it made his ears start ringing.
Chronos raised his head to look at Finn, and his cold face turned into a creepy, teeth-showing smile.
His eyes curved into two half-moons, and he started radiating a murderous aura.
"I hope you don't regret this, Finn. I really hope you don't regret this."
Finn thought that he would get attacked, but Chronos just turned around and disappeared from the space they were in by turning into a white fog.
Sweat was dripping from every pore of Finn's body, and he could feel his hands shaking.
Even though the room had a normal temperature, Finn felt like he was standing in the middle of a snowstorm, as cold chills kept running down his spine.
Looking around to make sure that Chronos had really left him alone, he tried to calm himself down by talking to Loki.
'You said that I am protected, right? That means that he won't do anything to me, right?'
Finn wanted to hear Loki's confident voice, but instead he got an unsure voice that was full of doubt.
'You will be okay… probably.'
'Probably?!!! What happened with the other four gods protecting me?!'
'*Yawn* I feel so tired after this meeting, so I am going to go hit the hay, bye bye.'
Loki quickly disconnected their communication and went to sleep.
Finn was at first speechless, but panic quickly overtook him, and he began shouting at Loki.
'Wait! Answer me! Please! I need to know if I will be okay!'
Alas, it was all for naught because Loki was already sleeping.
What Finn didn't know was that even Loki had never seen Chronos so infuriated, and that was the reason why he felt that even the four gods wouldn't be able to protect Finn.
He was too lazy to deal with it now, though, so only time would tell what would actually happen to Finn after he had angered one of the five most powerful gods.