"Welcome, humans!" A mystical being dressed in white grins widely at the young confused human in front of him. They were all dressed in school uniform. According to the rules of the game, for those that are to be chosen, they needed to be young, on their last year of high school, so between 17 and 18 years of age.
Lucian, like the rest of his peers, was 18 years old. He looked around the new space that he had been summoned to, and it seemed as though they were in an open palace built with gold and silver material. His mind couldn't fathom how it was possible for a building to float up in the air or the 12 mystical beings that were seated on a throne-like chair. The proud and arrogant look in their eyes made Lucian feel like he was nothing more than an insect to them. Not just him but every other human that was in the building.
One moment, Lucian was laughing with his best friend, Thorin; the next moment, they all appeared in a world that looked like a video game.
"You little humans have been given a special privilege to gain a power you don't deserve, along with the honor of participating in our once-in-a-lifetime game that's played once in a while in a thousand years." Thalric, the white glowing mystical being, smiled as he looked at the fear in the human face. He was the one chosen to address the chosen humans for this season's game show while the other 11 gods sat down and watched.
Thalric turned to his fellow gods; his actions brought their bright, mischievous gaze to him, all except for Zyros, who looked like he didn't want to be part of the game, but he didn't have a choice because the majority wins the vote.
"It's time for us to bless the humans." Thalric said. Along with the others, he stretched forth his hands. Their magic formed in the air and gathered together, forming a large circular ball.
Every human shouted in fear, thinking that they were all about to die as the gigantic magic ball that was shining bright ascended over their heads; instead of falling down and crushing their skin and bones into dust, it burst out and fell on the 50 humans present like a snowdrop.
The humans stare at it in amazement and open the palms of their hands in order to try to feel the magic. Lucian turned to Thorin, expecting him to be freaking out as much as he was, but Thorin was caught up lustfully staring at the open chest of one of the mystical beings, who was a woman, Zinnia. She rested her arm on her seat, a smile rested on her face, as she looked down at the humans. Like the rest of the mystical beings who Lucian still didn't understand, her skin was as pale as snow, almost as white as the garment she put on; the large V-style of her dress left most of her chest naked, along with her belly. Lucian didn't understand his stupid friend, who was letting his hormones take over at the wrong time because they were in deep shit, and the lady, like the rest of the mystical beings who see themselves as gods, looks just as evil as the rest of them.
"Snap out of it." Lucian elbows Thorin and glares at him.
Thorin stared at his friend as though noticing for the first time since they had been dragged out of their world that his friend was next to him. "Woah!" He shouted in surprise and looked in front of him. "What's that? Is that voice coming from my head?"
Lucian gave his friend a weird look; he couldn't see anything or hear anything. But then the others around him started having the same reaction and questions that were similar to Thorin's. Making Lucian confused because he still couldn't hear or see anything.
"What you all are experiencing right now are known as the gods' blessings." Thalric said. "From our benevolent kind heart we have given you all systems magic; when you each have a special skill, and with your system, you should be able to work hard and do the needed tasks to level up and become strong." He examined the expression on the human face; they didn't look frightened anymore. Some looked excited, while others still couldn't believe that they could use magic.
'pathetic.' Thalric thought.
"50 of you are going to play a game; not all of you are going to survive this game. This game is called Battle between the Hero and Villain."
"I thought we agreed to change that lame name." Orion said from his seat. His voice was loud and carried a powerful force that startled the humans.
Zinnia chuckled.
"We don't have to argue about that now." Thalric groaned in irritation at being interrupted.
"Um, excuse me." A human boy said, catching the attention of Orion and the others.
Lucian looked at the school uniform, which identified that the boy came from a different high school; not just him, but there were others as well. Each from different schools who had been summoned.
"About the game, these magic powers that we didn't ask for—I'm sure that there are some of us who don't want this. I don't want to play the game."
A strong lightning bolt strikes the boy dead, his entire skin roasted. His dead body hit the ground, bringing out a scream from the other human candidate.
"Thank you, Zinnia." Thalric said. "We have no use for a foolish human who doesn't understand the honor of being part of the game."
Zinnia smirked cruelly.
"49 of you will be playing the games; the rules are simple. There are no rules; use any means you can to survive. You will all be sent to Hlasked. It is a beautiful place filled with magical creatures who could eat you alive, the perfect place for the strong ones among you to level up and for the weak ones to have the honor of dying after meeting perfect beings like us." Thalric and the others chuckled to themselves.
'Perfect, my ass.' Lucian thought. The smell of burnt flesh was still strong in the air, but out of fear, everyone paid attention to Thalric without bothering about who just died.
"There are two ways for you to win this game. One, you must find a strong magical artifact that belongs to us."
An image of a silver ring with a delicate design appears in the air. It has sharp, pointy edges that circle around it like poisonous vines.
"That image should be in your system." Thalric said.
Lucian looked around confused, still not knowing how to activate his system, and it still seemed like Thorin could see something that he couldn't. "How did you activate your system magic?" He whispered to his best friend, who ignored him and focused on moving his hands in the air.
"Excuse me!" Lucian shouted out boldly. He was scared when Thalric's and the other mystical beings' attention was pinned on him.
"Yes. Do you also have a problem with this game?"
"I can't." Lucian's eyes went to Zinnia, who was about to lift one finger up. "I can't access my system magic." He spoke quickly before she could lift her fingers up.
Thalric frowned at him. "That's impossible." He used his magic to lift Lucian off his feet and scanned him. "He's not lying; he has no system magic."
"He has a skill." Zyros said. He was shorter than the rest and looked a lot like a little kid even though he was over a thousand years old. "A cheat skill. That's my magic." He said with amazement.
"I believe this is the first time we have combined our powers, and a human actually ended up with your magic."
Lucian fell to the ground ruthlessly as Thalric released his magic over him while turning to Zyros. "Check if he's the only one who ended up with your magic."
Zyros did a magic scan. "He's the only one."
"A shame he has to die, though. He's nothing more than a defect who is going to be a burden to others."
Zyros frowns, "But he has a skill." He stated.
"What use is his skill if he can't level up?" Thalric asks, "He's as good as dead going to Hlasked. The least we can do is show him mercy by killing him here and now." He raised his hand towards Lucian, but Zyros stood in front of Lucian.
"He's the first human to be compatible with my magic; I'm not going to let you kill him without giving him a chance. Besides, he didn't say that he won't play the game. Let him live; his struggles for survival are only going to make the game more interesting for us anyway."
"True. Human pain, struggles, and agony always fascinate me." Eldric said. Like the others, he wore a white garment and carried a strong presence.
Lucian's body trembled on the floor; he could feel something boiling inside of him and didn't know if that was his anger or his blood. Perhaps it was his fear that made his heart beat faster, or maybe it was the strange feeling of his life being in the hands of another. Never had he been in such a situation when he felt humiliated and helpless.
"What is the second way to win the game?" Lucian asks, standing up from the floor; he controls his trembling form.
The gods liked being stared at by him in amusement.
"As you know, the game is a battle between the hero and the villain, so the two most important characters of this game are the players who are recognized and chosen by the system as hero and villain. And there can only be one villain and one hero. If the hero defeats the villain, the game can be won even without the magical artifact, but this doesn't mean that everyone can survive; the hero is allowed to pick a few others that can live with him after the game, while the rest will be eliminated." Thalric explained.
"That means, it doesn't matter what we do, we are all going to die."
"How do we know who the hero is? What about the villain?"
"Hey, are you the villain?"
Voices poured out from the crowd of students that had been summoned.
"The hero is usually the one with the potential to be the strongest among you." Zyros said to the crowd.
"You are not allowed to tell them that." Thalric warned.
"Although it has only happened once. If the villain defeats the hero, the case is the reverse. The villain will be the winner and gets to choose who lives." Zinnia said, "It is always a wise choice for the villain to keep their identity hidden. They are strong, yes, but a lot of people always want them dead."
"You two are going against the rules." Thalric said in annoyance. Before any more information could be handed out freely to the humans, he used his magic to send them to Hlasked.
"Let's all stay together!" Lucian said to the others, raising his voice so that everyone could hear him.
They have all been brought to a place that looks like an abandoned dungeon. It looks empty, but Lucian's gut didn't trust the place.
"If we all work together to find the magic artifact and protect each other, then no one else is going to die, and we can all return home together."
Thorin laughs and steps out of the crowd to Lucian, who raises a questioning brow at him. He roughly pushes Lucian to the ground. "You still think that you have the right to tell everyone what to do?" He snarls, "Wake up from your daydream, you loser. I know you are a selfish punk. Back on earth you were a rich kid who had everything you ever wanted, making everyone bend to your will because of your damned money. Papa boy."
"What?!" Lucian was confused. Yeah, he was from a rich family, but he had never bullied anyone or made them feel less with his family wealth.
"And now that you are nothing in this world, you are trying to lead us who are stronger than you? Lucian, you are nothing more than a leech. You know, one of the things I have always hated about you is that pretentious attitude of yours. You don't care about who dies or not in this one; you are just looking for something to control so that you can leech off their ability to survive."
'That's not true.' Lucian thought and tried to explain himself but stopped when he saw the look of contempt on the faces of others around him.