Everything seemed normal until that moment. Acedia was asleep, his employees working, just like they always did.
"What the hell was that?" Acedia snapped awake, startled.
"Crap, that insane power again?" he muttered alone.
"Sir? Is everything okay in there?" one of the messengers called through the door.
"I'm busy, please do not interrupt me!" Acedia barked, trying to trace the powerful presence through the connection the CEF shares with the gods.
Meanwhile, Roke and Sevin were running for their lives, but it seemed like the more they ran, the more people appeared to hunt them down.
"Hey, Roke, what's going on with you?" Sevin asked, noticing the flow glowing in his hands. Roke glanced at his hand while sprinting and said, "I have no idea, but just keep running!" Sevin couldn't use his CEF to bail, not when it meant leaving his friend behind. So they ran on, running on fumes.
Suddenly, someone grabbed them, hauling them into an alleyway and slamming hands over their mouths to shut them up.
"Who are you?" Sevin asked, struggling to break free.
The person pulled back their hood, revealing it was Acedia.
"I think that would be me," Acedia replied to Sevin, a smile playing on his lips.
Turning away, he simply said, "Grab my hand." They did, and in a flash, they were standing in a throne room.
Acedia let go and made his way to the throne. He sat, snapped twice, and his employees filed in with carts loaded with food.
Another two employees followed, hauling a massive table like it was light as a feather; they seemed to be hired for that and nothing else.
They began to spread the banquet across the table.
"Sit down, my guests!" Acedia said, letting out a boisterous laugh.
"I've finally found my successor," he added, rising from the throne to approach them. "Successor?" Roke asked, still drawing a total blank.
Acedia then stood up, walked over to them, and pulled up a chair to sit by their side. They all fell to eating.
"Man, this is so good!" Roke shouted, hyped up.
Then, Acedia began to stare at them, making them feel uneasy.
Sevin, feeling uneasy, finally asked: "What do you want?"
"What's the rush, boys? Aren't you tired?" Acedia said, his face suddenly drooping with exhaustion, as if his very state of being was shifting back and forth.
Then, Acedia rose from the table and called over his counselor.
"Take them to the testing hall and call me when you're done," Acedia ordered his counselor.
With that, Acedia turned away from them and headed straight for the throne, where he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The counselor beckoned them, leading the way to the testing hall. They climbed the stairs to the first and second floors, passed through what looked like a meeting room, and arrived at the hall just beyond it.
When the counselor opened the door, they immediately saw a mat, already set up for a fight. Roke was already bracing himself, thinking he was about to be trained, but apparently, he had it all wrong.
The counselor pointed at Sevin: "Get on the mat. Let's see if you're worthy of assisting the successor."
"What? I'm Rank A, I don't need a test," Sevin said with a smug smile.
The counselor looked at him and said, "You don't. Acedia said you have to learn on your own."
"What do you mean?" He knew what he'd heard, but he wanted to be sure.
Ignoring Roke's questions, the counselor beckoned Sevin onto the mat. An employee, who was part of the Hunters' Guild, stepped up.
"I will be the judge," the counselor said. A white flow flared up around them as they squared off.
"Begin," the counselor commanded, signaling the start of the match.
The two moved at high speeds, appearing as nothing more than flashes of light. To keep up, Sevin had to tap into 400 of his potential CEF.
CEF: 100/500
The staff member started firing off white energy blasts, leaving Sevin scrambling to dodge in every direction.
But it was impossible to evade everything; he had already burned through nearly all of his potential CEF.
CEF: 50/500
Then, he took his last shot. He funneled his remaining CEF into a massive surge of white light.
CEF: 40/500
30/500
20/500
10/500
He unleashed a torrent of white energy that poured from his hand, but the staff member dodged it. The blast slammed into the wall behind him, leaving it cracked and shattered. Then, he closed in from behind without Sevin noticing, delivering a punch to Sevin's ribs that sent him crashing to his knees.
"Dammit, I can't lose!" Sevin yelled, slamming his hand against the mat.
But before he could get up, Acedia's counselor spoke: "Match over. The winner is Val."
"What? Val!" Roke was stunned. "He's a Rank S.
Sevin took a deep breath. "Wait, what do you mean?"
But the counselor ignored him, as he was prone to do, and motioned for them to follow him down. They passed the meeting hall and descended the stairs from the second floor to the first, finally reaching the throne room, where Acedia was still asleep.
The counselor approached the throne: "Hey, hey, Acedia, wake up."
The god bolted upright, shouting in a rage. "Who dares awaken me!"
The counselor replied with all the calm in the world. "The test is over, My sir."
"Well? How did he do?" Acedia asked, rising from his throne.
Before the counselor could say a word, two people with an imposing presence entered the room. Acedia cut himself off immediately, becoming dead serious. Without another word, he told the counselor to show them to their guest rooms.