The Mad Rat's Lab

Inside a large and poorly illuminated room with stone walls, floor and ceiling. Several hooded figures are sitting quietly around a long table.

From time to time, lighting momentarily illuminates the scene, the light passing through the stained glass windows.

Every time a bolt falls, the shape of a laughing rat-headed man, depicted in exquisite detail in the stained glass, becomes visible. He's channeling lighting, making it somehow feel like the lighting bolts outside and the sudden flashes of light are his doing.

The one sitting at the table's most privileged position places his hands together as if in a prayer. Even though he wears the same attire as the others, his figure is easy to identify, thanks to the chicken comb hidden behind the dark hood.

"Between you all, who got selected?" He asks in a solemn voice, as his orange chicken eyes scan the rest of the attendants.

Murmurs spread throughout the room, as the other hooded figures shift uncomfortably in their seats. Except for a few ones, they refuse to raise their lowered heads.

Seeing their reactions, the leader suddenly stands up and starts shouting.

"Why don't you say anything!? You're always so happy to chat and show off about your experiences! Why not now, huh!?"

He makes a short pause, out of breath, before continuing.

"Tell me it's a lie! Tell me this isn't possible!" He starts slamming the table repeatedly with both his arms, sending shocks through the wooden material. "Aaagh, because Al was busy with other stuff, I couldn't participate… but still, we sent more than a hundred groups, and you're saying none of them made it!? How are we going to spread His great teachings to the world, now!?"

After repeating the phrase 'this can't be true, it must be a nightmare' a few times, he suddenly stops and turns around, raising his head towards the stained glass windows right behind him.

"Aaah, forgive us. Forgive us, foolish believers. We tried our best but couldn't show to the world how devoted we are to You. We can't spread Your greatness in the incoming tournament. This was the greatest chance we had to spread Your teachings, but we somehow messed it up and now can't do it as prophethised…!"

The rest of the figures take praying poses, following his lead. They all look at the same place: towards the laughing rat-headed humanoid depicted on the stained glass.

"Oh, Great Mad Rat!"

""Oh, Great Mad Rat!""

As the Leader prays, the followers repeat his prayers.

"Oh, Great Mad Rat. Please forgive us for your indulgence. We'll never commit such a great sin in the future. We promise we'll flagellate ourselves a million times to make up for the greatest blunder of all whole lives…"

*Bang!*

Interrupting their prayers, someone smashes the door open and loudly steps inside the dark room.

The newcomer raises his voice so the whole group can hear him, and everyone turns their heads in his direction simultaneously.

"Who said nobody made it in?"

The newcomer asks, wearing a smile so wide that even the other players, all crazy lunatics used to bizarre and unusual sights, have never seen anything like that before. A smile so wide it threatens to split his face in two.

"Who said we wasted our chance, huh? I, Bil, His first and only disciple, as well as the First Apostle, together with my team, has made it! We're the 50th team out of the fifty places! We'll be participating in the same group as Him, hahaha!"

Surprise spreads through the hooded figures, creating a wave that turns the previous gloomy atmosphere into a cheerful one.

"What did you say!?" The Leader is the first to react, sprinting like a bolt towards Bil. "Did I hear it right? Your team qualified for the tournament!?"

He places an arm around Bil's shoulder and leads him towards his original position. The Leader sits on the most important seat, and Bil sits on the empty seat to his left. The right-most seat remains empty.

After seating, the Leader presses a button next to him and several candles suddenly light up, illuminating the previously dark room. The ominous atmosphere from just a few seconds ago vanishes as if it were a lie.

"Haha, of course!" Bil happily laughs. "I wouldn't dare lie about it. It'd be a sacrilege!"

Now back to his original spot, the Leader starts laughing like a maniac, raising his hands in the air, and conjuring lighting. "Fufufu! Hahaha! I knew that in my absence, His first and only disciple, Bil, would be the one to do it! Fufufu! Hahaha!"

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Bil sends him an awkward glance and asks. "...Didn't you hate it every time I called myself like that before?

"...just forget it. It doesn't matter right now, hahaha!"

Everyone cheers for Bil and his unexpected success, until after a while, the Leader raises his hand and everyone shuts up.

"But why didn't you tell me, Bil? I thought we had failed on our Great Crusade, our greatest plan yet… We were all despairing until you arrived…"

In response, Bil starts chuckling before saying, "But didn't it make for a great time? Hahaha!"

Understanding spreads through the table after his explanation. Indeed, before Bil entered the hall with the great news, they were despairing at their failure. What they were feeling then wasn't too different from what they always seek.

"But still… How did you make it?" Asks the Leader.

According to his knowledge, Bil's team isn't one with great skill. Although they aren't the worst, they can't be compared to his personal team when Al is involved. Why did Bil's team achieve their objective when countless others failed?

"Of course, it's because we're completely devoted to Him and willing to put our preferences to a side just to reach Him. During all the preliminary matches, we set aside our personal enjoyment and focused exclusively on victory."

What Bil says slightly confuses the others, the idea of 'abandoning their preferences' deeply conflicting with their views, so he adds something more.

"...don't misunderstand. What I mean by abandoning our preferences is that we put all our efforts into the future. We resisted the immediate temptation to achieve even greater pleasure! Pleasure delivered by Him directly upon us! Pleasure of meeting Him, showing off our devotion, and achieving our ultimate goal!"

"Oooh…! Makes sense," nods the Leader.

Murmurs of agreement come from the others present.

Having solved the misunderstanding, Bil then proceeds to explain how they accomplished their goal, and after he finishes, the Leader decides to ask everyone else why they got eliminated.

But when he asks the first person, Gery, the Second Apostle, his reaction isn't one of repentance but of extreme glee.

"Haha," Gery starts laughing. "Who said the rest of us failed?"

His words make a few present to tilt their heads. They don't understand what he mean with that.

Gery stands up from his seat. His eyes start spinning at the same time as he too spins with his arms wide open. Like this, he approaches the wall behind him.

"You see… not me personally, but one of the teams under me… Hahaha! One of my teams, trained personally by me, achieved great success during the preliminary matches. Hahaha!"

As Gery approaches the wall, the other players present realize there's something hidden there. Something that couldn't be seen until now because of the lack of light.

Placed between two large columns, at an angle where the light coming from the stained glass windows can't reach, there's a mountain of stacked papers. Gery picks a pile of that paper mountain, a stack as tall as him, and, still chucking to himself, goes back to his seat.

He drops a pile of heavy dossiers, as thick as the densest books ever written, way thicker than what any 'dossier' has the right to be, on top of the table. The table creaks under the sudden extra weight.

"Hahaha, can you believe it?" Gery smiles, holding one of the dossiers. On the front page, the title says 'Mad Rat's horror hotel - Full detail version'. "One of my teams got into Mad Rat's dungeon for the preliminaries and got to enjoy it fully!"

"WHAT!?" The Leader's voice sounds strained. Shock and envy make him lose his composure.

The others look as shocked as the Leader, except Bil, whose smile has disappeared and is biting his lips. Given his shark head, filled with large and pointy teeth, he might have bled himself to death if this weren't inside a game.

Gery opens the dossier and starts explaining.

"Oh, but don't worry. I have everything compiled here… From the monsters to the traps and everything else. Here in the first page you have a direct link to the full replay video…"

The dossier is filled with pictures and graphs, as well as a detailed analysis and explanation of every element found in the dungeon.

As he goes, he starts distributing the 'dossiers' to the other players present. They practically take it out of his hands, greed written on their faces as they start to absorb every bit of knowledge they contain.

Things calm down only after Gery's explanation ends.

But by then, everyone, including Bil, has forgotten about their failure to get a spot on the tournament and are instead looking at the Second Apostle with envious glares, even though he wasn't the one who got to 'enjoy' Mad Rat's dungeon.

"What a shame it couldn't be me… I'm sure that by divine providence, He would have been matched against me if I had participated…" The Leader mutters to himself, suddenly remembering the reason they met today. "Ah, right, the tournament!"

He raises his hand and everyone shuts up. His orange eyes start glowing as a smile spreads through his face.

"Thanks to Bil, we'll be able to achieve our goals! Mobilize everyone! Spread the word! He will rise to the top, and we'll support him from the shadows. It's time to show the world why He's so great. Spread His teachings! Spread His words! Because… All Shall Despair! Fufufu! Hahaha!"

"All Shall Despair!"

"All Shall Despair!"

"All Shall Despair!"