Return of the Woodcutter

"Who are you exactly?" Lucius asked.

"Someone you'll want to cooperate with tomorrow if survival is your goal," Aito said, absorbing one soul core after another. "That's who I am." 

He had kept two hundred soul cores for himself and given the rest to his teammates. Orcs hadn't bothered him when picking all of those up. Apparently, those were his prizes to take. His spoils of war.

"Maybe…," Lucius said, eyeing Aito's cores stashes in a backpack. "If you're willing to spare some of your cores, we might reach a deal." 

A soul core disintegrated in Aito's palm as he absorbed all its contents, then frowned deeply. "Are you a mercenary or a challenger?" 

"Let's say I'm an opportunist," Lucius replied. "I take what I can get from any situation." 

"Unfortunately, there is only one opportunity here for you, Lucius," Aito said, taking another soul core. "And that is your life. Tomorrow will be something certainly worse than what we've been through today. If you stick to your pride, you might just die, Lucius." 

Aito could see on Lucius's face that the pepper and salt-haired man had taken offense. However, Lucius also certainly realized that Aito wasn't lying. 

Lucius hadn't fought the adult orcs today, but he saw what they could do. And supposedly, according to Aito, tomorrow the enemies would be stronger. 

"But if I do not cooperate with you, you might also die," Lucius said, trying to reverse the situation. 

Sam who has listened to the conversation, interjected, "Him? Dying? Don't fool yourself, Lucius. No matter what you throw at him, that fucker never dies! I've tried to skill him three times already and—"

"Four times counting our time in the cell," Aito interrupted, lifting four fingers. 

"Four times, exactly!" Sam exclaimed. 

"That's hardly convincing. No one is unkillable, Sam," Lucius said. 

"Haha! Sure go ahead, give it a try then. Let's see if you fare better than me against that monster," Sam said. 

Aito sent him a dark glare, ordering Sam to shut up and return to his corner. The baldie quietly followed his instructions. 

"Whatever, Lucius. Do as you wish. Just know that no matter what, you will not have a single one of my team's soul cores. Didn't I tell you yesterday you would regret it for not cooperating?" Aito said. "If you even try to steal one, it'll be your last theft. That I can guarantee you." 

A drop of sweat ran down Lucius's face. Aito emanated a threatening aura. Lucius had seen what kind of man he was today, certainly not the type to be messed with. 

Aito wanted to scare him off a bit, but didn't want things to get ugly. Lucius's team seemed to be getting ready for a fight and Aito had no doubt they were capable. One or more of his teammates might actually die if he were to engage. 

A long silence filled the room where two team leaders stared at each other, trying to gauge one another. 

"Think about it, Lucius. You could save your teammates' lives tomorrow if you cooperate with me," Aito said. 

As much as he wanted to refute, Lucius knew Aito was right. But pride could be a poison that could even cloud strong men's judgments. Tore between his good sense and pride, Lucius left without a word. 

Aito sighed, watching him return to his corner and sleep. If he could get Lucius on his side tomorrow, there'd be a greater chance of victory.

However, it wasn't a necessity either. 

Two hours passed, Aito and his teammates were finally done with absorbing all the soul cores.

Since he had been at level 2 longer than the others, George managed to reach the bottleneck between the challenger realm and ascender realm. 

Although he had no clue whatsoever on how to advance, he was happy. 

Aito knew George would require the help of a god, or maybe he'd be able to do it on his own. That remained to be seen. Aito wasn't willing to teach George how to ascend just yet. Why? 

As per usual, trust issue and because Aito himself didn't comprehend fully how he had ascended in the first place. 

Sheyla and Ogoro could be said to have arrived at almost two-third of the way to the bottleneck. Their mana capacity increased quite a bit. 

*** 

Sacred Event, Last Day. 

Challengers entered the arena and immediately noticed a change in the sunlight. One sun shone white and the other black. Creating a weird mix of light. One light the surrounding of an almost blinding white while another ate up the colors. 

"What is… this?" Ogoro asked, looking upward. 

Sam snorted mockingly, "Never seen eclipses, Ogoro?" 

"These are not eclipses. The suns are just shining of two different colors for some reason." Sheyla said. 

"Boss? What's going on?" George asked. 

"I have no freaking idea. Haven't heard of that before," Aito replied. 

Neither Gwen's memories nor Krugan had spoken of this peculiar phenomenon. But that wasn't what worried Aito the most. It was the orcs on the other side of the arena. 

Numbering fourteen, the exact same number as the challengers. There were male or female orcs. All tall, strong, and well equipped. Their armors were thick, their weapons sharp.

Amongst them, was a female orc as tall as Gwen armed with a particularly large ax, its shaft crafted from human bones.

The Khan, even from more than two hundred meters away, was imposing.

'Damn it, she's too far for me to sense her danger level,' Aito thought. 

Lucius's team broke up with the other challengers and started building their own fortification. He had decided that cooperation was unnecessary again. 

To Aito's surprise and annoyance, Sam's team stuck next to him. He let them be, keeping them in his sight. He had a bigger problem to deal with. 

A loud noise announced the beginning of today's event. The orcs moved, reaching towards the center of the arena in a matter of seconds. 

Then, to all challengers' surprise, stopped.