Down With The Gods

In the heart of the city, glass and steel high-rises scrape the sky with their sleek exteriors. Transparent tubes, suspended between buildings, serve as elevated walkways. The closest one above Wyn and his team is currently filled with creatures. Each building features a helipad, with a nearby monitor displaying the locations of nearby helicopters. Smart vehicles are neatly parallel-parked along the sidewalks, accompanied by similar stands with digital readouts.

Tall buildings surround the city center, encircling an expansive monitor that stretches across them, seemingly ignoring the gaps between the structures. The monitor displays a large timer, with its digits replicated on opposite sections to ensure visibility from all angles. Next to the timer, large bold text reads, "City Invasion Event*," with a note below that says, "*ask a demon for more information."

“We have less than three days!” Anish says.

“What’s this ‘City Invasion’ thing?” Wyn asks, glancing up at the monitor.

“It’s an event that happens once every six years plus six days, six hours, six minutes, and six seconds,” Anish explains excitedly. “Basically, they let loose a super strong creature that can destroy the city and…”

“‘Destroy the city’?” Wyn interrupts.

“Yes! It’s the only occasion where they let buildings actually fall, unlike what you’ve seen so far.”

“But how…”

“Let me finish, please!”

During the event, aside from other creatures, an ultra champion – much stronger than a regular champion – is summoned randomly into the city. Anyone who wants to participate has to stay within the red border drawn around the battlefield until the timer hits zero. An echoing bell rings, and portals open everywhere inside the battle zone, summoning random creatures of various strengths. Participants can collect any essence they find, as long as they don’t harm other souls in the process. Escaping is allowed. The event ends when the ultra champion is defeated. Since the creature is too powerful for souls on this floor, elite groups from the third floor will join the battle. They’re usually the ones who defeat the ultra champion, and everyone else rushes in for the essence afterward. Demons patrol the battlefield before the event, but they disappear once it starts.

“How long does it usually take for an ultra champion to be defeated?” Wyn asks.

“No idea. I’ve always wanted to join one of these events, but I never had a team to do it with. Now that I’ve got you guys, I have a better shot at surviving!”

“Sounds dangerous. You’re usually the one trying to keep us out of harm’s way.”

“It’s high risk, high reward,” Anish responds. “The border is pretty wide. If you want to see it, you’ll have to go up to a rooftop. We can just run around collecting essence if things get too crazy. And if we have to, we can escape.”

“I don’t like the sound of it.”

“I agree,” Mira chimes in, while Yu nods in agreement beside her.

“What? Nooo!”

As the team debates, a sudden commotion rises from one of the streets. In no time, souls begin gathering in the city center.

“They’re coming!” a random female soul shouts.

Moments later, a group of elite souls emerges from a street, heading toward the center of the square. Wyn’s eyes widen in recognition.

“Whoa! That’s the Penultimate Fantasy guys!” he blurts out.

The group’s blonde leader turns his head, catching Wyn’s shout. With a smile, he starts walking over to Wyn and the others.

“Who said that?” the blonde leader asks. “It’s not often we get recognized these days.”

The spiky-haired leader’s name is Crowd, though his teammates sometimes call him "Crowdo." Like Wyn, Crowd harnesses cyclone powers. His team consists of Tiffany, a busty fire user; Barrack, a muscular dark-skinned man who can shoot lasers; and Rede, a strange, lanky, hairy lava soul with a dark red mohawk. Wyn recalls that there should be five more members.

"They're not with us right now. They're off helping the nerds with another game," Crowd explains.

"I played your games on Greed’s level!" Wyn blurts out, excited. "I played up to the two hundred and sixty-second installment!"

"Wow! That's impressive, though you missed a few hundred more. All the characters were modeled after us, just tweaked a little in each game."

"I know! In the hundredth-anniversary game, they turned you all black and gay! Barrack was even made into a trans president!"

"We’ve got a true fan here! Anything you want to ask us in return for all that admiration?"

"Maybe you could teach us or give us some battle tips?" Wyn’s face lights up, his excitement barely contained.

"I’ve never seen him smile like this," Yu whispers to Mira and Anish.

"That Tiffany girl…she's too pretty. Anish, eyes up!" Mira whispers.

"Sadly, we don’t have much time for that. We’re scouting the area, but I’ll tell you what. Watch us fight from a rooftop. You might pick up a few things."

Wyn practically squeals, his excitement clear, as Crowd continues explaining how the city is rebuilt differently after each event. This requires the elites to scout every nook and cranny before the battle begins. Crowd advises Wyn and his team to conserve their energy for the main event. Rather than hiding in buildings, they should keep moving and be quick if they want to collect essence at the end. Wyn wishes Crowd’s team good luck, certain they’ll come out victorious. After all, this isn’t their first rodeo.

With seventy-one hours to spare, Wyn asks, “What do you guys want to do?”

"Whatever happened to ‘sounds dangerous’ and ‘I don't like the sound of it’?" Yu remarks.

"We could just chill? Maybe take a bike tour around the city?" Anish suggests quickly.

“Oooh! I love biking! Let’s gooo!” Yu responds, instantly forgetting what he was saying before.

Seeing it as a short ride, they decide to take the train to Park Island Station, where they can rent bikes. Along the way, they encounter a couple of legsters and armsters, but these creatures don’t pose much of a threat. A clean hit to the torso easily splits them in half, thanks to the men’s weapons. The earth creatures reward them with thirty essence each upon defeat.

As they exit the station and head up the stairs, Yu notices a familiar figure sitting alone on a step, crying. While the rest of the team seems eager to ignore the scene and keep moving, Yu hesitates. Something about the woman stirs a memory.

"Are you alright?" he asks gently.

The woman lifts her head, her tear-streaked face showing a hint of recognition before she speaks. "Yu?"

With his luck, he’s found Christine, although her outfit is different from before – now a fitted black long-sleeve top, high-waisted olive green cargo pants, and sleek black ankle-high combat boots. Her current state intrigues him. She explains to Yu, and indirectly to the rest, that the team she was with ditched her. Christine's former party was growing in number, reaching a point where they deemed it necessary to cull their ranks. She was let go here recently, alone.

"Alone?" Wyn asks.

"Yes. I was, like, the first they let go," Christine answers.

Yu drags the team aside, looking serious.

"Yeah, we already know you like her," Mira says.

"It's not that! It's mean what they did to her," Yu insists.

"We don't know her well enough to put her on our team yet," Wyn says.

"We also doubted Anish, and look at how valuable he is to us!" Yu counters.

"Seeing how he's head over heels for her, it's useless to reason with him at this point," Mira says.

Wyn walks up to Christine and proceeds with the usual screening process.

"How many genders are there?"

"What does this have to do with, like, anything at all?" she replies, seemingly upset.

"Just answer."

"Like, many. Whatever you want to be. You, like, have anything against that?"

"No, I actually accept all answers. I care more for the reactions. Diversity is nice, but demeanors are a different thing," Wyn answers calmly.

Wyn stands still for a second before walking back to the team. He places his hands on Yu's upper arms, looking at him dead serious.

"I'm sorry, buddy."

"Give her a chance!"

"If we accepted her into our team right away, that would disrespect Anish."

"I have no problem with girls, like, none at all."

"Please, Oppa," Yu says, giving Wyn puppy eyes.

Wyn drags Mira along, letting her do the talking. They decide to let Christine join their team, simply to give Yu a morale boost. However, unlike the rest, Christine doesn’t have to prove herself to the team, which worries Wyn a great deal. Regardless, the number of members now stands at five. Wyn can only hope that the dynamics of the team won’t change and that they all continue to get along.

The team strolls around on bikes to pass time. Christine seems only interested in talking to Yu the whole time, so the rest learn nothing yet about her.

"Wyn's the leader?" Christine asks Yu.

"Yes! And a good one at that!"

"Really? Like, I thought it’d be you, Yu. Like, those stupid questions, like, make me doubt his leadership."

"You should get to know him more. There’s a reason for everything he does. You’ll see he’s a good guy."

"Hope so. Anyway, I’m, like, just happy to see you again!"

Twenty minutes before the timer hits zero, everyone holds onto Wyn as he cyclone jumps to a rooftop – the only time it doesn't overshoot. They plan to observe first, then decide later if they would get involved. That said, they’re willing to rush in for the ultra champion’s dropped essence.

An eerie echoing bell rings. The timer has reached zero for all measurements. A thick glass dome appears, covering the whole battlefield. From the river, beneath the bright red suspension bridge, a colossal threat emerges. The bridge collapses into the river, along with the unfortunate souls who happen to be there. A menacing bellow follows, echoing loud and clear throughout the city. A gazillot has made its presence known. A charged laser erupts from its mouth, evaporating buildings and anything in its path.

“To think the traineater was already scary,” Wyn says, shivering.