(Please, if you can, could you donate a few cents? It would help me a lot during this stage of my life. Thank you. paypal.com/paypalme/HectorPikas)
CHAPTER 75 - Start of the Tournament. Part 1.
(Pov - Saik.)
The employee break room. Can I really be here? Iris said it was fine, but I have my doubts.
Her coworker gave me a suspicious look when Iris told me to come in here, so I'm worried about getting her in trouble over some misunderstanding. I'd rather avoid problems, but given the current situation, being here with her is the best option I have. I can talk to her and avoid getting involved in whatever's going on right now.
"I don't think so. Sylphie's more of a cat person than a dog person, or at least that's what I remember hearing from her. If you're getting her a pet, a cat's the better choice."
"A cat, huh? To be honest, I'm not a big fan of cats. I prefer dogs. Cats have always seemed boring to me. By the way, which do you prefer?"
Cats or dogs, one of the world's eternal debates. Cats are more adorable, but dogs are more playful and fun. I love adorable things, but I hate animals. My only pet, Thiago, disappeared—someone stole him or something. I tried having another pet, like a cat or a dog, but the cat did nothing but eat and sleep, and the dog crapped on my bed, and that was enough for me to decide against pets. I miss Thiago, my slime. He was the perfect pet. Adorable, fun, helpful in fights, and never needed a bathroom.
I always wanted to travel to another world to get another slime, but the risks of getting trapped in that world were too high, and it wasn't worth it.
"Well… If I had to choose, I'd say cats, because they're more adorable."
"Cats too, huh? I don't blame you, I admit they're adorable."
She took a sip of her coffee, and I kept eating my instant soup while watching the screen that appeared above our heads.
Two people with spiritual powers are fighting, and for some reason, their fight is being broadcast live. Number 2 confirmed that everyone has those screens above their heads. But why? Who's organizing this?
Someone called "Number 67" is fighting against "Number 1." Ice versus darkness. 39% health versus 91%. Darkness is winning.
Ah… Number 30 hasn't come back. I sent him to look for Yuki. I'm getting pretty worried. The dark sky only confirms we're inside a "Bigba" field, a place where no spiritual or non-native being can leave. The Ghost Goddess, or whatever being is organizing this, wants to ensure those two don't escape until one of them dies.
Is this some kind of punishment or underground fight? Even if I want to pretend I know nothing about this and go on with my normal life, I can't. A "Bigba" field puts Yuki in danger since it's a variation of the original "BigOne" field, and any spiritual being inside it loses their memories and becomes feral, turning into monsters addicted to others' suffering. If I let my guard down, Yuki will be in danger. The best thing is to investigate this before it's too late. If they have the power to use Bigba, they might be capable of using "BigOne." I've never been able to use any field, only my personal protection field. Who's capable of using such complex techniques?
"Saik, Saik, something bad is happening!"
I sigh in relief. Yuki, you had me so worried. You didn't come back because you were watching her, Number 30, huh? Good job.
"No enemies detected, master."
Number 30 returned to my body.
"You can see it too, right?! What are those screens?!"
"By the way, Iris, aren't you into light novels or anime? I have some news I'd love to share so you can congratulate me."
Yuki, this news will make you really happy too, and it's what you need to calm down. Stop crying; it breaks my heart to see you cry. Everything will be fine, get my hint.
"No exaggeration, today's one of the happiest days of my life, and nothing will ruin it."
"Happy?" Yuki said, somewhat confused by my odd words.
"Well, I only watched anime when I was younger, but it's been a while since I've seen any or read a light novel. Why? What happened?"
"Well, Miss Iris, you're looking at the author of a light novel that's getting published soon and will even get an anime adaptation."
"Anime?!" Yuki said, shocked, just like Iris.
"You're publishing a light novel?!" Iris said, genuinely happy for me, even smiling.
Wow… It feels so good to have someone be happy for me. You're so kind, Iris. But I'm worried about Yuki; she's slapping me (though it doesn't hurt since her body is deactivated).
"Don't change the subject! What's happening to the world?! Is it the end of the world?!"
Ugh, the good news didn't work. She's really terrified, and I don't blame her. It does feel like the end of the world, at least for ghosts, since a spiritual field like this puts their souls at risk. Even though I don't have experience with this, everything I know comes from studying spiritual techniques humans created to fight demons. I know ghosts have a natural terror of these kinds of barriers.
It's like a human seeing a three-meter monster—even if they don't know what it is, terror overwhelms them, along with the feeling of mortal danger.
I'm sorry, Yuki, I can't talk to you yet; I don't want to raise suspicion. Besides, the fight's getting good. Another advantage of having my hair cover my eyes is that it lets me watch without anyone knowing what I'm looking at.
"Yeah, I post a novel online, and since Lalo García is in town, I took the chance to psychologically manipulate him into publishing my novels and getting an anime for mine and a friend's. I told him sad things so he'd say, 'Anything you need, you know you can count on me.' And I took advantage to ask for that. Pretty smart of me, right?"
"Saik, Saik, pay attention to meeee!!"
Ugh… It hurts to see her so desperate. I wanted to finish talking with Iris so Yuki would realize she's not in danger, but her desperation isn't easing. Is she that terrified of being in this spiritual field? I feel normal, and my legendary ghosts feel fine.
I guess pure ghosts like Yuki are the ones who suffer the most.
"L-Lalo García? The Lalo García I'm thinking of?"
"Yup, the very same. Can I use the bathroom? I need to take out my contact lenses. You know, it's not recommended to wear them for more than eight hours."
"O-of course, go ahead."
"Thanks."
I got up and headed to the bathroom.
In fact, yes, wearing contacts for too long can harm your eyes, but it doesn't affect me, so I wear them almost all the time, except when I shower or sleep. At least it's a perfect excuse to talk to Yuki.
I entered the bathroom. No security cameras or microphones, Number 30?
He emerged from my body and quickly started searching.
"Are you finally going to answer me?! What's happening, Saik?!" Yuki shouted, crying, while "hugging" me.
Number 30 returned to my body.
"It's safe," he said.
Immediately, I activated Yuki's body and received her hug, hugging her back and stroking her head. I'm sorry for not helping you sooner, but I've already raised too much suspicion. Even though the ghost hunters killed me and didn't find any legendary ghosts inside me, the fact that Lalo García saved me was very convenient, and I don't doubt they're still keeping an eye on me, at least for a while longer.
For now, I need to stay on guard, acting like nothing's happening around me, especially considering the masked twins won't stop bothering me. And now I have to add these fights and the spiritual field to my problems. I hope the latter doesn't involve me, but given my luck and being the holder of legendary ghosts, it's very likely this will involve me somehow.
"There, there, Yuki, don't worry. This spiritual field, the black thing surrounding the city and sky, is harmless to you. It only prevents spiritual beings from leaving the city, and I think it's related to the fight the people above our heads are having."
"Spiritual field? How much do you know about this? W-will anything happen to me?"
"Trust me, nothing will happen to you, at least if you don't try to leave. Don't worry, I can protect you with my spiritual power. You'll be safe. Though, yeah, I admit that's all I know. This whole thing is weird for me too."
"Huh? Look, Saik, next to you!"
Next to me…? Oh… A pamphlet?
A pamphlet appeared floating beside me. Who could've sent it?
Let's see… Yuki?
I tried to grab it to read, but Yuki pulled my arm, stopping me.
"Don't touch it! It appeared out of nowhere! It's obviously dangerous!"
Her body is trembling, and her tears keep flowing. You worry so much about me, huh? And that's something I appreciate with all my being, little sister.
I wiped her tears with my fingers. Don't cry, everything will be fine. As long as you're by my side, you'll always be safe. I give you my word and promise with all my heart.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen. I don't sense any negative energy or anything bad in it. Maybe the organizer of all this will explain what's going on."
"Do you have experience with things like this?"
"Yes and no. This has never happened to me, but thanks to my past research, I found out that not only ghosts can use spiritual powers—other beings can too, like humans like me and… well… demons who can stay in control. Don't worry, demons stay hidden out of fear of being eliminated by ghost hunters. Whoever's behind this is probably doing it for fun. Look at what the pamphlet says in big letters."
"It says… 'Great Superhuman Tournament'?"
Yuki's disappointed face is clearer than water. Even I'm disappointed. What an awful name they gave it. Couldn't they come up with something better? Like… hmm… "Human Spirits: Fight for Survival." Is "spirit" called "spiris" in English? I can't remember. Anyway, that name they chose is terrible.
"A tournament? Are they inviting you?!"
I doubt it. This smells like something from the Ghost Goddess. I don't think she'd bother me before the time she gave me to think it over. Maybe they sent this just to let me know what's happening so I don't worry.
I took the pamphlet and opened it.
Yuki floated beside me to read along.
Let's see…
What is the "Great Superhuman Tournament"? It's a survival tournament where the best or the best ones will survive.
…What a short summary.
Rules: Each of the 100 participants will have two unique abilities of the same type, as well as a blessing and a curse.
What's a blessing? It's an extra ability with a usage limit.
What's a curse? As the name suggests, it's a curse that directly affects the participant, like the curse of being very ugly or smelling like excrement.
"Oh, wow, wow. This blessing and curse thing sounds interesting."
"The blessing could help them in a fight, but the curse could make their lives hell. Sounds pretty cruel."
"And it is, but that's how demons are—they have fun with suffering. And look, up here it says: Information for Saik and Yuki (spectators). We're not participants, we're spectators."
Yuki sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness."
Thank you, Ghost Goddess. I hope Sumi doesn't kill you too painfully.
Let's keep reading.
Curse, blessing… The 100 participants can choose to compete solo or in teams of up to five.
In these kinds of things, it's never a good idea to join a team since you'd have to share the prize, and I highly doubt the prize is something trivial.
The fights will last a maximum of three days, and if no one dies by the end of that time, the one with the least health will die. Fights will end when all involved in the fight decide to surrender or one dies. If there are more than two participants in a fight, it will continue even after one dies, only if all remaining participants unanimously agree to keep fighting. But if even one doesn't want to continue, the fight will end and be considered over.
Extra help: Participants will have two one-time-use aids. They can use a "Bigba" field of any size to shrink the fighting arena.
"A Bigba field?"
"That's what the black thing surrounding the sky is called. From what I researched in the past, this field prevents beings with spiritual powers from leaving, meaning this extra aid will help them stop enemies from using ranged attacks and force them into close combat."
"An aid that limits movement, huh?"
"Exactly."
According to the information, they'll also have a "private" mode, meaning fights they don't want broadcast won't be shown live.
"What's that for?"
"If you look closely, the ones fighting have something covering their faces, meaning they're protecting their identities. If a participant discovers their identities and tries to attack them off-guard, this aid would help them keep their secret identities hidden."
"Oh, right, so they can protect their loved ones."
The fights will be broadcast live, showing basic participant information and the level of their public abilities, but if they lose, their true identities will be revealed.
It's strictly forbidden to receive extra help. Any modification to enhance abilities will be penalized with the reveal of their secret identities and the removal of one unique ability.
"Can abilities be enhanced with technology?"
"I don't know, Yuki. I guess so, since even humans managed to replicate my ability to see ghosts."
That rule was created to prevent secret organizations from getting involved in the tournament, recruiting participants to join them.
Alright… Final attack. Each participant will have a unique final ability to serve as their ultimate attack. Once used, they can no longer use abilities, only their natural strength.
Yeah, whoever made this tournament definitely wants to have fun.
The prizes are… Huh?
"Be the husband or wife of someone named Star? Who's Star, Saik?"
"No idea, probably the one who organized this tournament."
"Is she so important or beautiful that they're killing each other to marry her?"
"It's very possible."
The prize will be one of three options, and the winner can choose the one that suits them best. Number 1: Be the husband or wife of Star. Number 2: Be the servant of a Goddess and have all the privileges that position entails. And number 3: A group wish, whether it's eternal life, more power, or whatever they want, though it has its limits.
"Is Star the Goddess mentioned in the second option?"
"Doesn't make sense, since no one would choose to be a servant if they could be the spouse."
Probably Star is a minion of the Ghost Goddess, and the second option refers to becoming her minion. She's already starting to leave her mark on the world, huh?
Hmm… It will be impossible to fight after an official fight ends. You must wait two days to start another official fight, except for fights without winners, in which case a new fight can start anytime, excluding those who participated in the no-winner fight. In other words, those who participate and choose not to continue fighting must wait two days to fight to the death again, while others don't have to wait.
It's impossible to fight or harm other participants outside of an official fight.
Wow… They can't kill each other off-camera, huh? Interesting. This is like a TV show, just with a lot of gore, violence, and death… Yeah, I'm going to forbid Yuki from watching this.
"Only two days of rest? That's too little, isn't it?"
"There are 100 participants, and a fight will typically have just two fighting for up to three days. I think that's enough time to train and plan their fighting strategies."
Though it's still very little time. It took me years of suffering to learn to control my spiritual power and another three years of training to improve it. Their abilities are based on spiritual power, not magical power, meaning they'd have to go through the same thing I did to improve… Or… maybe not.
"Aliens?! Aliens exist?! Uwaaah! Are there aliens among us?!"
"Did you really think we're the only living beings in the vast universe? There are ghosts and demons, so the existence of aliens was pretty obvious, so it doesn't surprise me much. But yeah, I admit I'm a bit intrigued that there are aliens among humans."
"A-and are they dangerous?"
"Possibly yes and no. They're dangerous as unknown races that could harm us, but I don't think they're that powerful considering how many aliens are needed to level up."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Well, there are secret organizations that hunt ghosts and demons, so it wouldn't surprise me if there are secret organizations aimed at capturing aliens. Hmm… The more fights they win, the more advantage they'll have. If only some can fight every so often, they definitely won't waste time and will fight whenever they get the chance to get stronger, Saik."
"And the winners of the fights will absolutely have to rest to recover, so the chances of a participant fighting multiple times in a row decrease."
This just got more interesting.
For every 1,000 aliens killed, they can level up one of their passive abilities, and for every 2,000, they can level up one of their unique abilities. The aliens are hidden among the humans in this country, and it's their mission to track and exterminate them. They can also earn 7,000 points by killing a participant.
A participant is worth over 7,000 times more than an alien, which perfectly reflects how weak they are. I guess the hard part will be finding them.
…Finding them? That means…
"The aliens… are they being forced to participate in this to make the participants stronger at the cost of their lives?" Yuki said in a low, sad tone.
Star or the Ghost Goddess, whoever's organizing this, is just using the aliens to avoid getting bored waiting for fights, entertaining themselves by watching participants hunt and kill aliens.
"It's so… savage."
I tore the pamphlet, and it turned to dust that scattered.
"There's nothing we can do to stop this tournament, but we don't need to worry about it either. We're just spectators, we're not in danger, and from what we've seen in the fight, the participants' attacks don't affect the environment or humans. We'll be safe."
"Yeah, I know…"
She's still sad… Your empathy for others is sweet, but you have to understand there's nothing I can do to stop this, and even if I wanted to, I don't have the power right now. I'll stay weak for at least another year.
I crouched down and put my head between her legs.
"W-what are you doing?!"
I grabbed her legs and stood up, carrying Yuki on my shoulders like the good big brother I am.
"Let's keep living our lives normally, Yuki. The secret organizations will handle this; it's not our responsibility. I know you feel sad for the aliens, but we're dealing with a being capable of giving people extremely powerful spiritual abilities. We can't do anything to stop it, but it won't harm us either. The spiritual world and the real world are completely different places, and as long as you're under my protection, nothing bad will happen to you, since you're officially part of both worlds. If the Goddess or Star wants to conquer the spiritual world, it won't affect us. Let's just move forward and not think about it."
I wanted to keep her away from these topics, but now it's unavoidable. I can't erase her memories anymore, and this directly affects the environment that's her home. I can't hide valuable information from her.
"Thanks for the words, Saik, but… I don't know… This is all new to me. I don't think I can relax for a while."
"As long as you're with me, you'll be safe. I promise, and I always keep my promises."
Yuki smiled at me and stroked my ears… Why is she stroking my ears? I guess it's her way of showing gratitude.
"Thanks. But will you be safe?"
"Both Sumi and I will be safe; we're just spectators… I think… Let's go find Sumi."
"That's right, she and her sister have your ability! Let's go see how they're doing!"
"You were with Sumi, how did she react?"
"She cried in fear and locked herself in her room."
"And with good reason. Let's go."
Sorry, Iris, we'll talk later.
Now, how do I keep Yuki from watching the fights? They're too violent for her.
The ice man is freezing that woman's right leg, and she cut it off with a black sword to free herself and dodge an attack of ice spears. She has a power similar to regeneration, as her leg turned into black liquid and returned to her body, restoring her leg to normal.
She got her leg back, but that doesn't mean it wasn't disgusting how she cut it off, so much so that I had to cover Yuki's eyes so she wouldn't see it.
"Star or whoever's organizing this, I don't want Yuki to see this, or me. We don't want to be spectators."
The screens disappeared… Wow, that was easier than I thought.
"I think it worked. Yuki, can you see the screens?"
"No, but I wanted to be a spectator. It seemed interesting."
Her body is trembling. She's trying to act tough. Oh, Yuki, don't be ashamed of being scared. Fear is natural; even someone like me has felt fear.
"The fights are to the death, Yuki. I don't want you to see murders or torture. Besides, the rules don't prohibit torture or rape. Do you really think it's impossible for some sicko to use their power to rape a participant before killing them? It's very likely something like that will happen, or that they'll torture them before killing them. I don't want you to see such disgusting things, and neither do I. Let's live our normal lives and ignore this situa…"
Footsteps… Someone's coming.
I turned on the sink and started washing my hands.
Someone entered the bathroom… Huh? What's he doing here?
"Saik, Saik, I've seen that guy on TV! It's Uncle Lalo!"
Well, yeah, technically we're brothers, but Lalo García is so extroverted it's embarrassing, so calling him uncle is something that'll never come out of my mouth. I can consider him trustworthy, but not uncle. Plus, I'm a bit traumatized by the NTR stories I had to read for my manga, so anything about uncle-niece relationships grosses me out, even though I know Lalo would never do something that sick.
But what's he doing here?
"Lalo? I feel harassed. I doubt someone as rich as you comes to convenience stores like this."
""Oye, oye, oye, ¿y esa frialdad, compa?" (Hey, hey, hey, what's with the coldness, compa?) Is this how you repay me for funding your novel's anime? "Me rompes el corazón, chico lindo" (You're breaking my heart, pretty boy). Hahahahaha!
"Oh, a real 'ranchero'!" Yuki said, looking closely at Lalo.
"Ranchero"? What was that…? Oh, I remember. They're the ones who wear cowboy hats. Lalo's wearing one—a white hat, a white shirt, black jeans, cowboy boots, and a brown belt. Plus, he's got a mustache, though I think he'd look better with a beard.
"Well, sorry for not knowing how to express myself properly, "señor ricachón" (Mr. Moneybags). Are you here to see me, or is it a coincidence? Just so I know if I should watch my back."
"Do what you gotta do, I'll wait outside, we need to talk. "Te limpias bien el culo" (Wipe your butt good)."
He left the bathroom laughing, and I sighed. Lalo is the capital sin of pride, one of the seven elements that make up human nature. He can definitely see Yuki, since if Sumi could, he can too. He won't talk to me about what he really wants while I'm with Yuki, but I already talked to him about my new life and Sumi, the future new Shadow. I highly doubt someone like him, who knows the feeling of wanting to fulfill your dreams, would ruin mine, since he owes me. Thanks to me, he broke free from his chains and is free. He owes me, so I doubt he'd ruin my life.
But if he doesn't want to talk about the tournament or whatever's going on with the spiritual world, what does he want to talk about?
"His laugh is contagious. I like Uncle Lalo, Saik. Let's take advantage of his visit and get him to put a pool in our house!"
Maintaining a pool is expensive and dangerous. Even though I was killed, the chances that ghost hunters are still watching me in the future aren't zero.
"I'll take out my contacts, and let's go see what he wants."
•
•
(Pov - Kaeyko.)
In terms of power, the ice guy is stronger, but the shadow or darkness girl is hard to damage. She attacks from the shadows, literally. Her attacks can come from any shadow, mainly normal knives and kicks. She creates black holes out of nowhere and puts her arms through them, and those arms can come out of any shadow, as can any part of her body.
I've somewhat figured out her fighting style, and the ice guy's too. Teleporting and attacking using any shadow, and she has the ability to create weapons with her shadows, as well as other objects—or is that part of her ability? So far, that's all I've seen.
The ice guy can create ice and freeze the environment. He even froze himself to avoid being affected by the shadows, which confirmed that her shadow attacks have a size limit. Plus, he can create ice monsters and attacks her with them while hiding in the ice. I think those are his two abilities, since it'd be too much if his ice ability also let him create monsters.
What a load of crap, I got the most useless abilities because I was the last one picked—they gave me the leftovers!
[Animal Instinct] is an ability that gives me… well… the survival instincts of… an animal? I guess. A dog, to be exact. From what I felt in the fight, it gives me great speed, both in movement and reaction. It's like my body moves on… pure instinct. I see why it's called that. I don't see everything around me in slow motion, which lets me dodge attacks; my body just reacts on instinct and dodges on its own, same with moving. If I want to move a certain way, my body does it on its own without needing to use my brain. But even so, I wouldn't stand a chance against that ice guy. If he freezes even one foot, I'm done for. Even less against the shadow girl, since she was humiliating the ice guy, attacking him from blind spots he didn't notice, doing a ton of damage before he realized, like attacking from his own shadow. The guy couldn't stop attacking and moving, because one downside of the shadow girl's ability is that she can't follow the shadow if he moves while she's attacking. When her arm stops touching the shadow, it comes out of the hole she created, and she has to make another hole to try attacking him.
Her ability is powerful but relies heavily on her targets staying still, though it's also a disadvantage for her enemies since they have to keep moving to avoid being attacked. Realizing this, the ice guy started attacking her from a distance while moving, and when he got tired, he froze himself to attack her with his ice monsters.
And [Darkness Whips], well… it's… garbage. Even that shadow girl can replicate it. What's so special about my ability? In the fight I had, I used it to attack from a distance, cutting the enemy's skin like a normal whip, and I also managed to trap their legs and knock them down. My whip works like a normal whip, and that girl is using it.
The girl trapped a monster with a huge shadow rope, though it works similar to a whip. She trapped it, pulled it toward her, created a shield, and smashed its head with the shield. When she created the shield, the rope disappeared. She can only create one weapon at a time. Well, I think I used two whips in the fight, so my weapon does have some difference. I wonder what her limit is.
"Yeah, yeah, I see. Hmmh. Yeah, definitely bigger," Ether said, stroking his chin and closing his eyes.
"What are you talking about, idiot?"
"Mildred's breasts are bigger than yours… Uwaaah!"
"You're dead! I can't stand you anymore!"
"You started it by eating my pizza! Better eat this… Hmmmmmhh?!"
I covered Ether's mouth. Seriously, can't they behave in public? Everyone's staring at us too much. The fight's about to end, don't distract me.
"Agnes, stop choking Ether and let's finish the assignment."
"Fine, sister, it's not worth getting mad just because I have bigger breasts."
She sighed and let Ether go, who's about to get a punch from me because he's licking my palm.
"I'm sure even his family can't stand him… Wait, what do you mean you have bigger breasts than me?! Take it back, we're the same size!"
"Denial is the first step to accepting reality, sister."
I snapped my fingers, and their attention focused on me as I wiped Ether's saliva on his face.
"Someone gives you affection, and this is how you repay it. So ungrateful, papi," Ether said, winking.
Yeah, you're definitely gay, or the biggest idiot I've ever met… I think the latter is much more likely.
"Breast size doesn't matter. All three of you, stop fooling around. Unlike you, I actually have things to do at home. Let's finish this assignment, and then you can measure your breasts or beat up Ether."
"I vote for the second option."
"Make that two."
"So much love you guys have for me."
Ugh… Seriously, Tanya, I hate you for putting me in a group with these people. I can barely stand Ether, and now I have to deal with him fighting with the two girls who hate him the most—it's more than I can handle.
Evelyn, I hope you're still awake when I get home. Being with you will calm me down.