God of Destruction: Living Among Mortals

Nova shook his head. The migraine wasn't sharp anymore, but still was there, and just the faint feeling of the migraine was enough for him to try to reboot himself.

He rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes, then swiftly opened them, trying to push the migraine away. Around him, his team gathered in their corner of the spectator box.

Elesch's hand brushed his arm, steady and trying to keep him grounded. Adam's claws flickered in and out, his nervousness apparent in his motion and face. Zane was pacing slowly in tight circles, while Michael leaned on the railing, staring out like he could freeze the nerves out of the air.

"Okay," Nova said quietly. He wasn't trying to sound like a commander, just someone holding his team together, though everyone recognized him as a commander, since no one wanted to step up to that role. "We've got five people and ten slots. Not ideal, but we would have to split. So, each person has to do the trial twice, unfortunately. I didn't want to do solo heroics, and actually stick together and do our best together, but unfortunately, that won't work."

Zane stopped pacing, flashing a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "No summoning black holes this, yeah?" He tapped Nova's shoulders lightly, the gesture more brotherly than cocky. "Muy speed's good for quick hits, and I didn't want to run a whole trial by myself, but oh well."

Michael exhaled, his breath frosting. "I can slow things down with ice. Hold ground if I need to. But that Sloth trial? Sounds like torture. Fog that drains you? Hard pass."

Adam snorted, retracting his claws with a soft click. "Sounds rough for everyone. But Wrath's my type of fight, one-on-one, no tricks. I can handle that." His voice wavered a little, and he looked down.

Elesch squeezed Nova's arm, her eyes flicking toward the holograms swirling above them. "I can use my rifts for movement. I can get us in or out fast. But Envy? That mirror one? Facing yourself like that, it's unsettling."

Nova gave a small smile. "Creepy's right. Alright, assignments. Two per trial. So, this is what we're going to do: Adam can lead the Wrath Trial. Zane, you can lead the Greed Trial, need to collect the cores, and using your ability, you can do it twice. Michael and Elesch pick between Pride, Envy, and Sloth."

Michael reluctantly thought about it, and Elesch decided to follow his lead. Michael stubbornly then said, "I'll take the Envy one, since Elesch doesn't want to."

"I'll take the Pride one then," Elesch said.

"Then it's settled. Adam for Wrath, Zane for Greed, Michael for Envy, Elesch for Pride, and I'll take the Sloth." Then Nova thought for a second, and he realized maybe there was another way. "What if everyone does two different ones. So, I can do Pride and Sloth, or maybe, since no one else wants to do Sloth, I'll do it twice over, but y'all can shuffle. Like Elesch and Zane can do Pride or Greed, and then Elesch and Adam can do Wrath, and so on." Nova turned to the giant hologram, then asked it a question: "Can we shuffle our teammates so that one person can do two different trials? Suppose person A does Wrath and Greed, then person B does Wrath and Envy, and so on?"

"Of course! For fewer numbers of players, you can mix and match!" the giant hologram announced to the rest of the guilds, which eased some of their tensions, since some had fewer members.

Nova turned back to his mates, gathering them in a tighter circle. Then he spoke up, nodding his head, "Okay, so if anyone wants to mix and match, now is the chance to do so."

No one spoke up; they weren't ready for such a question. Perhaps, they needed their leader to figure out what they wanted out. Nova was flabbergasted that they were okay with their roles and that none of them had any intentions of changing whatever they were assigned.

The timer hit two minutes. The other guilds were already locking in. The South Koreans moved with sharp precision. The Brits shouted orders. The Indians murmured chants.

The Aussies grinned like they were about to start a bar fight. Kai caught Nova's eye from across the box, gave a thumbs-up, and mouthed, Mirrors suck. Nova laughed, the sound real this time.

One minute left. The announcer's voice booming through the spectator box: "Finalize your selections. And there is one more thing you need to know for this stage. This is a free-for-all stage. Which means whichever team loses the most amount of trials is eliminated. Only the top ten teams with the most trials won move on. The portals are activated. Enter your sins, Adventurers, and may the best guild win."

Holographic icons blinked green one by one as guilds confirmed their picks. Nova's team was locked in. The environment for each sin was interesting: Wrath's was a blazing pit, Greed's had tunnels, like little ant colonies, Pride's had an arena, Envy had mirrored halls, and Sloth's was just gray fog.

Nova stepped toward the Sloth's portal, as the rest of his team members aligned together, stepping through at the same time, promising each other they would win against their opponents in the different trails, since all trails were calculated at the same time, they wouldn't be able to cheer each other on.

Elesch and Nova were the last ones. She lingered long enough to squeeze his hand. "Come back quickly, and don't push yourself too far. It's okay if we lose."

"Deal," he said, his voice low. "Kiss some ass, and don't lose. I'll see you on the other side."

All the guild members from all the guilds finally entered their trials. They were all mesmerized by the beauty of the background and setting of the trial, as for Nova, it was just a dull and foggy environment that he had to handle twice, exhausting himself to failure.

Elesch's words rang through his head, but he knew he couldn't afford to lose, so he shifted her words and focused on winning at least his side of the trial, just enough if there was a tie with the preceding trials.