God of Destruction: Living Among Mortals

Nova stepped through the Sloth portal, expecting the worst, which the world gave him. Once he stepped through, he saw another person in line with him, with other Adventurers in front and on the sides, and even to the back of him.

His objective was to survive against all the others. So, the entire twenty Adventurers that were in the round were his enemies. And since no one was allowed to hurt anyone, while everything else was allowed, such as distractions or even touching, though depending on the degree of touching, an individual could be eliminated.

The arena felt like it expanded forever, with dust and debris flying and rolling everywhere. A potential threat was added to improve the effectiveness of the fog, which was supposed to drain a person in their entirety.

Some Adventurers had already started preparing themselves as the fog loomed closer and closer to the twenty Adventurers on the field. Some sat down meditating, connecting with their Ability Chamber so that some of the fatigue from the fog could be mitigated.

Nova sat himself down as well, seeing how everyone was doing so as well. He got into his meditating posture, connecting with his Ability Chamber, his soul transferring over. Once he entered his Ability Chamber, his duplicate was standing amidst the settling chaos and destruction that Nova had set.

His duplicate wasn't angry; he was understanding. He had realized the bond Nova had developed towards his kittens, and now that his child was on the way, introducing them to each other would further amplify the stimulus for the kittens and the child.

"How have you been?" Nova felt awkward saying that, even though he was speaking to himself.

"Decent." The duplicate replied, waving his hand for Nova to come to him. "Come over."

Nova took a couple of seconds to gather himself, then went over, as they watched the grotesque amount of chaos and destruction, with endless deaths and revival of the same beings over and over again, forgetting who they were, and instantly dying, and slowly falling into a chaotic cycle of endless torture.

The concept of life didn't exist in their, as all sorts of randomness occurred. It was worse than a gore fest; it would make a gore fest look tame, as though it were a kids' show.

"Do you think you're prepared for the fog?" The duplicate asked.

Nova thought about it, reluctantly not answering, since he didn't know himself if he was ready for not. He simply shook his head, then looked towards the chaos and destruction unfolding.

"I felt so much anger in that moment that I felt my divinity almost take over, and you know what that would mean for this realm. I just couldn't control my emotions, something I never thought I would say out loud. It's so frightening. These mortal emotions of love, hate, anger, sadness, depression, and so on. But now I feel like I am focused on a clear objective, which is to clear this trial twice over. So, that's all that's going through my mind."

"Which is good, you're focused, and for this trial, you really need to focus. I suggest you stay here for as long as you want, since the fog is almost on top of you, and the fatigue and the drain will begin momentarily."

Nova let out a simple chuckle. Then he sighed, knowing that this trial was the hardest of the rest of the trials. He also regretted picking the trial because of his migraine, but also because his body felt restless. As if the sleep he had gotten wasn't enough, or didn't feel like sleep, but felt like manual labor, something he had to push his body and mind through.

He sighed again. The duplicate now let out a chuckle. They watched over the chaos as the fog settled in the real world. The fog encapsulated everyone, the thickness already physically damaging the players, as there was less oxygen, so survival was only for the fittest.

Nova felt the overwhelming fatigue almost instantly, and the major loss in his oxygen supply filtering through his nose. His duplicate patted him on his back, calming him, as he panted stridently. His eyes were wide open as if he had just woken up from a nightmare.

The other Adventurers all around him were somewhat holding up, some almost at the brink of losing the trial within the first ten seconds. But Nova held on, and so did the Indian, Russian, British, and Australian Adventurers. It was going to be a tough battle between these five guilds.

Almost all the Adventurers were covered in fog, not knowing if there was still someone in front of them or not. This scared some of the Adventurers who had their eyes wide open and were frightened.

One of the Adventurers, towards Nova's left, stood up barely, even though he was also a B-rank Adventurer like Nova, and as he stood up, getting to his feet, his body gave out; he had run out of energy and mana, his skin going pale, as he was immediately teleported out of the trial.

He was on the brink of death, for such a simple mistake as to get up in the overwhelming amount of fatigue he felt. Then, more Adventurers started to drop like flies. There were still more than ten left, but now the fatigue and drain the fog performed really started to take effect.

Nova performed a couple of breathing exercises, standing up straight in his Ability Chamber, calming himself down, and slowly pacing his breathing so that the fatigue couldn't overtake his body. His duplicate leaned against a bubble of chaos, which was red in color, with hints of black and purple interwoven into it.

"This is going to be a long day. But I feel like if I can pass through this first trial, maybe my body can adapt fast enough to the fog that the second time I do this, it's much easier for me. What do you think?" Nova asked his duplicate, side-eyeing him.

"Maybe. I mean, your body can adapt very fast to situations, so I guess it would make sense." The duplicate thought about it, then agreed with Nova.