Lifeblood Chaos [LitRPG Apocalypse]

Ray stretched a little as he approached Action Hall. Tension danced on his skin like he had slept in an anthill. He still wasn't one hundred percent sure that this would just be yet another normal auction where he would give up his treasure in return for more money. Or what passed for money in this Tower.

"Relax, wingman," Gritty said from his left. "Your tension is making me feel jittery. This isn't a job interview."

"I'd be feeling better if this was a job interview," Ray said. Bombing an interview didn't have as much stakes as this.

"And you." Gritty turned to Marcus. "Stop swivelling your head like it's a merry-go-round. Your girlfriend's going to get here when she gets here. She's not going to stand you up. You'll get your date."

"This isn't a date, thank you very much." Marcus's response was a bit too nasty. "I wish it was a date. It would be a lot easier."

"Dates and job interviews," Gritty grumbled under her breath. "That's so normal, that honestly sounds ridiculous."

She was right. The mundanity of job interviews and dates sounded so ludicrous in their current circumstances, Ray could hardly fathom them.

They found one of their allies inside the Auction Hall. They were waiting in the foyer, where they had to report their arrival before the auction began so that their treasure wouldn't be sold without them.

Pierce nodded at them in greeting. "You seem tense."

"I'm not tense," Ray said. "You're tense."

Gritty snorted. "Real smooth, wingman."

"I'm serious…"

He wasn't joking. Pierce looked a good degree tense too. Wait, was that what Ray looked like to the others? Eyes twitching infrequently, face a tad paler than normal, whole body looking stiff like he was ready to burst into a fight any moment now?

Ray did his best to look a little more normal. This was an auction. Not a job interview, just like Gritty had said. He had to remember that.

They finished the formalities of getting ready for the auction and retrieving their treasure. It was only when they were about to enter the actual auction hall that the last party arrived.

"Took you guys long enough," Gritty said as she glared at Sameer, Eliza, and Karkatrix.

"Sorry." Eliza shot a little glare at Sameer. "We were held up a little."

"Doesn't matter," Ray said. "It's about to start. Let's go in."

He led the way, noting briefly that Sameer was tense too. What the hell was wrong with all of them?

Marcus's face was the only one that brightened at the new arrivals. Naturally. Eliza looked happy to see him too, before remembering that they were surrounded by their companions, so her customary stoic scowl returned. Marcus was a little deflated by that.

Ignoring the feeling, Ray headed in. Things were already underway, more or less. At least in the sense of everyone being present and whatnot. Ray and the rest of them were registered as one team for the purpose of this auction. He had no idea how the audience felt at that prospect, but that was none of his business.

As it was, all of them were quickly ushered to the waiting room instead of the main auction chamber. Ray took a peek at the dignitaries and other audience members who had gathered already.

"No sign of the Tower Lord," Gritty said.

Ray nodded imperceptibly. "Mm."

"And they hate us…"

"…mm."

By they, Gritty obviously meant the Sylvans. A lot of them did look murderous whenever Ray caught them staring. Although, he did notice that they were all of the martial kind. Sylvans who looked like they worked for the Tower Lord and the Tower administration.

No wonder they hated Ray, especially after he had killed so many of them, including their leaders.

"Still surprising they haven't tried to kill us," Eliza muttered.

Marcus nudged her shoulder. "Don't give them ideas."

She snorted.

Huh. Ray had to admit those two were kind of cute.

They didn't have to wait long in the backstage area. The organizers were only waiting for the Tower Lord. It seemed he was an actual, invited guest this time instead of being a surprise addition like that time he had bought Ray's treasures himself.

Which suggested he was going to do the same this time as well. Not even leaving it as a subtle hint or something along those lines. The Tower Lord was all in on his final plans.

Karkatrix raised three of his hands somewhat shyly. "We have not figured out a plan on how best to sell the treasure," Karkatrix said.

"Face it, Karkatrix," Eliza said. "We're the only ones trying to sell anything here. We're the main guests. There's no one else. We don't have to sell anything. They're literally here to just buy what we've got."

She was right. This was almost a formality in a sense. Ray could probably insult the Tower Lord and still be remunerated handsomely for the treasure.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Speaking of," Gritty said. "I don't see any of the other competitors here…"

Sameer looked a tiny bit paler at that. Ray recalled how he had seen several of the competitors lying dead on the way to mountaintop of the Toer 38 dungeon. That reaction pretty much confirmed his suspicions that Sameer had shown them no mercy, whether they had been human or not.

Ray supposed that was fair, in some kind of warped way.

It wasn't long before the Tower Lord arrived. Ray didn't get to see the arrival, but there was a small wave of murmur, much of which was rather excited.

Soon enough, their names were called and they proceeded to the stage. Ray took a preparatory breath as he entered the dimmed chamber.

"Let's go," Ray said.

He realized he even sounded tense now, so he did his best to demonstrably de-stress and headed onstage.

"Honoured attendees," the announcer said. "Please welcome the winners of our last dungeon in the Immortalizer Tournament!"

There was a smart round of claps resounding through the room. Despite the Tower Lord's arrival, there was no special lightning or anything like that. Not even where he—the most important person here, surely—sat.

The only reason Ray was able to make him out was because his pale skin stood out in the gloom.

"Competitors," the announcer said with a little practiced flourish. "Or should I say, winners. Please, step forward and reveal the great treasure you unearthed in the Graveyard of Sin."

Well, here went nothing. Ray exchanged a quick look on either side of him. It was a little odd to be stepping forward to represent not just Marcus and Gritty, his ever-present teammates, but also two extra teams onstage with him.

The golden anchorlike treasure was already in his hand as he stepped up. He raised it high over his head. "This is what we retrieved from the Tier 38 dungeon. A treasure dropped by a monster that went by the moniker of Demon of Humanity. This—" Ray raised his arms high, as well as the treasure. "This is the Immortalizer Anchor."

Murmurs of wonder and appreciative gasps rang through the crowd. Even the Tower Lord leaned in a little, the gleam in his eyes noticeable even in the low light over the audience.

It was Sameer's turn to step forward. "This treasure was won by blood and sweat, by hard work, by the combined efforts of us all. As such—" His voice faltered here a bit. "—we will share the profits of selling this treasure at this auction."

"As for the treasure itself," Pierce said, stepping forward last of all. "The name says it all. This is an anchor to hold an immortal in the mortal world. A treasure to call upon Paragons. Godlike beings who transcend the natural world we inhabit. This is a treasure that can summon even them."

"Imagine," Ray said, looking over the crowd, giving his best selling spiel. "Imagine the power of a god at your fingertips. Imagine power that can rule worlds, that can command empires, that can make even the System tremble." Ray looked over the crowd, trying to meet certain eyes here and there. "That is what you can gain with this treasure."

That was it. He didn't need to embellish it any further. It was arguable that a good chunk of them already had an idea what the treasure could do. Ray was just making sure that everyone would know.

"There you have it, honoured audience!" the announcer said. The Sylvan sounded genuinely impressed, not just affecting it for the sake of his job. "A treasure that can bring down a Paragon in our midst. A veritable god, in the palm of our hands. How wonderous, how mighty, is that?" He took a deep breath, letting the suspense build. "So, which brave attendee would like to start off our auction?"

This wasn't a normal auction by any means. Ray honestly wasn't even expecting any of them to make any offers. After all, wouldn't the Tower Lord just assert some incredible sum and outbid everyone here?

But they went on with the formality anyway. Som bids popped up here and there, each outdoing the last before the auction announcer could call them.

The bids were naturally rather high too. Even the first one started off with twenty Mana pearls. And it only went higher up from that. It wasn't long at all before they were all offering hundreds of Mana pearls in return for Ray's treasure.

In the end, though, the Tower Lord stood up. "I bid two Mana Eyes."

Well, that did it. Not only was he once again offering an incredible sum of Mana, but it was also pretty evident that no one was going to counterbid the Tower Lord of all people.

For a second, Ray almost wished he had seeded the crowd with fake bidders earlier. He could have called the Tower Lord's bluff and raised the auction's bar even higher. But it didn't really matter. Two Mana Eyes was an incredible offer, considering that just getting a total of one Mana Eye was all that a team needed to be victorious.

Even splitting that three ways would be enough for Ray. After all, winning the other auctions had already taken him pretty close to the needed sum.

"With no further bids coming in," the announcer said. "We now have our winner. The Lord of the Tower of Forging has set an incredible sum for the final treasure to be offered at the Immortalizer Tournament Auction. It is now sold!"

The next few minutes felt like a strange blur. Like Ray was moving robotically through expected motions.

His chest felt light. It was all over. Well, the tournament was, as was the auction.

The real final battle yet remained.

"The three teams have decided to split up the winnings evenly," the announcer was saying when Ray paid attention again. "But with the new totals tallied up, we can now confidently say that we have a winner! The team of Raymond Dominick, Marcus Tyle, and Gritty is the winner of the Immortalizer Tournament! Please give them a round of applause!"

Ray and the rest of his team were ushered forward a few steps, a spotlight shining down on them from above. For all that they were tense about what came next, Ray couldn't help but exchange a small grin with both of his teammates. They had done it. They had secured victory. They were the winners!

The rest of the event was like a bit of a fever dream. Despite it not being the real victory that Ray was going for, he couldn't help but enjoy the applause he received, the looks of scathing envy Sameer threw his way, and the fact that even Pierce and the Floor Lord acknowledged him.

It felt good.

The end of the auction was marked by the Floor Lord inviting the victorious team to a banquet in two days' time. Not tomorrow, but the day after.

Naturally, for tomorrow was the day he was going to use the treasure to bring his plans to fruition.

"We can split up the actual winnings at the registrar, I think," Gritty said as they were heading out.

"Keep mine," Sameer said shortly. "I don't care."

"Aw, don't be a sore loser. Think of all the paper towels and napkins you can buy to wipe off you tears when you're crying at night!"

"Gritty," Ray warned.

She just continued grinning.

Credit, for once, to Sameer, he didn't rise to her bait and ignored the barb entirely. "I will see you tomorrow."

And that was all he had for them before heading off.

"We still need to discuss the plans for tomorrow." Ray wasn't bothered by Sameer's abrupt departure. He grinned at Eliza and Karkatrix, who could fill in their teammate later. "It's almost time for the real battle."

"Hold your horses," Eliza said, looking around suspiciously. "Let's finish our business here and then we can talk."

They did so, making sure the money from the last auction was evenly split among them.

"Your buddy said he doesn't want his share," Gritty said. "So why are you still taking it?"

Eliza deadpanned Gritty. "I'm taking it because even if he doesn't want, it still belongs to our team." She snatched the small sack of Mana pearls from Gritty. "I'm going to buy him some cotton candy. He likes cotton candy. I'm sure it'll cheer him up."

Ray tried really, really hard not to laugh at the picture of Sameer munching on cotton candy.

Gritty wasn't as successful. Actually, she hadn't even tried not laughing. "There's cotton candy in this place?"

"Yeah… there's cotton candy?" Marcus asked.

Eliza flushed at the question. "Never mind. Let's just get out of here and start talking plans."

They did so, heading out of the rather stuffy auction hall. Ray considered waiting to see if the Tower Lord exited before them, but the Sylvan leader seemed to be taking his time. Whatever. They had more important things to discuss.