Damon's Ascension

Damon glanced at the fabled Chaos Essence on the platform and observed it carefully.

It was a shimmering orb of orange colored energy that rotated slowly while in the same spot as if it has its own axis. Just by looking at it, one could feel that this essence was not simple and Damon's entire being has a strange… affection?… for it that made him want to seize it.

Yet he remained calm and walked forward to take it into his hand, his eyes narrowing as he expected an adverse reaction based on the way other people described Chaos Essence when in its mined state.

However, he was able to grasp it relatively easy, though it did feel a bit warm and a bit jumpy, shocking him a little. Damon wondered if the adverse reaction was weaker for him specifically or it was suppressed by the casino?

Holding the Chaos Essence, he began the tests he had always planned to carry out when he first awoke his abilities.

He first activated Devour, testing to see I there would be any special change if he directly absorbed Chaos Essence himself. The outcome surprised him, because the energy was smoothly absorbed like any other, but to his shock, barely 1 unit of Chaos Essence completely filled up his 'first stomach' with ease!

At the D-stage, Damon currently produced 100,000 units of Worldly Essence every 16 hours. Based on the rate at which his first stomach was drained compared to how much entered the second stomach, which was more quantifiable, the first stomach should hold about 1,000,000 units of unrefined energy at this stage.

1 unit of Chaos Essence made 1 million units of unrefined energy, which was then converted to 100,000 units of Worldly Energy thanks to Devour.

Yet the Universe Will of the home universe gave out 1 units of Worldly Essence per unit of Chaos Essence.

Damon's expression, which had remained calm, couldn't help but scrunch up slightly. This was not even greed or selfishness anymore, this was direct maliciousness and theft!

Because it was the only one that could directly handle Chaos Essence and convert it downwards to the usable Worldly Essence for living beings to empower themselves and level up.

Until Damon and ostensibly, Felicia popped up.

Damon felt a coldness in his heart. He didn't much care about how much the universe Will fleeces the denizens of the universe, he was not a good Samaritan enough to feel bad about the exploitation of others, especially since he would do the same or worse in the Universe Will's shoes.

What made him feel cold was the fact that he and Felicia were walking on a dangerous tightrope at the moment. If the Chaos Eye had not slapped the sneaky Universe Will into a coma and prevented it from following along, it would have witnessed this scene.

Even moreso, if Damon hadn't alienated the Universe Will and drawn the line, it would be privy to all of his deepest secrets.

If it knew about this…

Right now, he only produced 100,000 units at the D stage, not enough to supply an entire race alone. However, his ability was EX, not D, meaning that it had six or seven more upgrades to go before reaching its peak.

If it follows the same exponential growth of times ten per tier, then at the EX Rank, he would be producing about 1 trillion Worldly Essence per 16 hours.

In less than a full day, he would be making enough to fuel a large galaxy of living beings. At that time, he would be the Universe Will's biggest competitor, and for the Chaos Essence hungry Universe Will that would even go so far for its own profits, that was pretty much declaring war.

…He would have to talk to Felecia about this before they got back, because of her growth followed the same exponential curve as his, then they were in a bit of trouble.

Damon put away the Chaos Essence into his newly minted pocket space from his upgraded Empty Soul Palm and nodded towards Nyros.

"Lets us continue. We will take our final bet still as a team and we will not accept any games that aim to separate us and take us down one by one."

Nyros smiled. "Of course not, you know the rules well enough. The casino can suggest a game, but you are free to refuse it. However, the casino also reserves the right to refuse any game method you come up with, or change the rules of the game you come up with to a certain degree."

Xela seemed puzzled. "Then can't we just keep refusing if you try to take advantage of the information you just got?"

Nyros nodded. "Exactly. The casino does not have single rule that forces you to play, and you can reject an infinite amount of times."

Then he smiled strangely. "However, young miss, have you ever wondered why your two leaders have been glaring at me with hatred since the end of last round?"

Xela looked at the cold but calm Damon and her big sister Felicia who eyes were partially lidded, her arms crossed and her heels tapping the ground rhythmically, feeling a chill in her heart just looking at them like this and she was on their side!

How must Nyros feel?

Nyros saw her realization and chuckled. "Young lass, it is because the casino holds the initiative in this scenario. You are short lived species who live and die faster than most Pre-Chaos beings take to form their consciousness after birth, while we are the Chaos Casino, eternal and ever persisting."

Nyros stretched his hands out and titled his head. "We can both keep rejecting, but can your afford to wait?"

Xela felt her heart thump, because she finally understood the crux of the issue. All they needed to do was win one more bet and they were scot-free, who could wait for years and do countless back and forth negotiations to seek a better deal?

It was bets to take the casinos unfair game mode and try their best, because at least that way, they had a chance of winning.

Nyros glanced at the silent Damon, seeing that he was not making any offers, and chuckled. "Alright, the casino has decided to make the final game mode about…"

There was a momentary pause as he glanced at the entire Vanguard Team slowly, his smile curling upwards.

"Virtue." Nyros finished, his voice laced with amusement, though his eyes remained guarded.

"The game is called The Wheel of Anchors and it is a time-honored tradition here at the Chaos Casino, reserved for contests of finality, like games where power alone cannot determine the victor. Where muscle, mana, and manipulation must bow before something far more elusive… perception."

He made a small gesture with his wrist and a projection of a vast, turning wheel appeared in the air, each wedge labeled with a concept. There was Honesty, Courage, Selflessness, Wisdom, Desire, Regret, Conviction, and so on.

"This wheel shall dictate the nature of each round. We shall spin, and the virtue it lands on becomes the law for that segment. You will then be presented with a scenario, a choice, or a performance - sometimes public, sometimes private - and you must embody that virtue… in the eyes of our esteemed audience."

He turned to sweep his hand toward the darkened rows of alien spectators - beings of flame, void, angles, and madness - who now leaned forward with a renewed hunger.

"Scoring is simple, as our beloved crowd will vote anonymously, and objectively, of course."

Nyros smiled with mock innocence. "After all, who could be more impartial than beings who've existed since before the concept of bias?"

Felicia's nails dug lightly into her biceps as she let out a quiet exhale. "There it is…"

Nicholas leaned forward. "Wait, that's… it sounds like a simple morality trial. That shouldn't be too hard for us, right?"

"No." Damon answered flatly, and the sheer gravity in his tone made even Henry go silent.

Felicia uncrossed her arms and stepped in, voice calm but taut. "This is one of the most insidious setups I've ever seen. It's not about us performing a virtue. It's about how they perceive it. And perception is fluid in a room full of immortals who hate what we are."

Connor blinked. "So we're just gonna get downvoted to death?"

"No, they have to remain objective, so we're going to get framed." Damon continued.

Bane narrowed his eyes. "Framed?"

Damon nodded. "Each round, we make submissions - decisions, actions, or words - that supposedly reflect the virtue in question. But one of ours will likely be swapped out quietly, replaced with something the house chooses. Something… damaging."

Felicia's gaze was icy as she followed up. "Then that forged action will be attributed to one of us. The audience will never know it was faked. Heck, we might not even know. Only after we lose, maybe, will the truth come out, and even then, the damage will be done."

Henry looked horrified. "Wait, so they can just… forge our answers?"

Damon gave him a sideways glance. "Not exactly. They're just exploiting the gap in the rules. We're not being forced to make the wrong choice. We're being given the illusion of control while they quietly inject poison into our choices."

Marshal frowned deeply. "And they'll say it's all legal because we 'submitted' it."

"Exactly, they don't need to ban our abilities, they just need to misrepresent them. Imagine Marshal uses a Word of Power to express 'hope'… and they alter it to mean 'surrender.' The audience judges him on that." Felicia said.

Levi's lips curled. "Filthy bastards."

Kyle cursed. "That's diabolical. How the hell do we fight that?"

Protizen's voice was cold and even. "You don't on paper. At best, you have to try and turn their own rules against them."