A blinding flash of divine light split the void—then silence.
Havoc stumbled as his feet touched solid ground, blinking rapidly. His breath caught in his throat.
They weren't in the void anymore.
They stood in the heart of a vast, celestial arena—a coliseum not built by mortal hands, but forged from starfire and godly will. The stands towered into the sky, stretching beyond reason, as if the universe itself bent inward to witness what was about to unfold. Galaxies turned slowly above like living chandeliers. Celestial dust glimmered in the air, casting faint trails of color—violet, gold, and deep crimson. The floor beneath them was obsidian glass, polished so perfectly it mirrored the cosmos above.
Havoc squinted. Each step echoed across the god-forged stone.
He whistled with amazement. "God damn, Vael'thrix, you may be a jackass for taking me from my home and then trapping me in a dark void for a lot of fucking time… but you do know how to wow someone," Havoc said as he stared at the amazing coliseum.
Beside him, Vael'thrix stood tall and cold, his void-black eyes scanning the arena. Hearing his coliseum praised filled him with pride for his craftsmanship. But then he gave Havoc a bonk on the head for insulting him yet again, much to his irritation. "The filthy mutt still doesn't know how to be obedient," he muttered with irritation. Then he looked at the clock on the coliseum and realized the time for his tournament was about to begin in a few minutes. His voice then echoed across the divine silence.
"Welcome, mutt… to the Coliseum of Infinite Paths."
"This place will be the start of my own tournament, where you and six other Champions will compete against each other—each representing one of us."
Havoc, having woken up from the bump on his head, stood up with all his strength and stared at him with anger. Then looked at the coliseum again, still amazed. "So this is the place where you and your so-called colleagues are going to be putting me and their champions to fight each other to the death? So what? So you and your colleagues can see who has the bigger dick?"
Which earned him another bump on the head from Vael'thrix. Falling down to the ground again, smoke coming from his head.
Vael'thrix then said, "If you keep using that filthy mouth of yours to slander me once more, I swear I'll rip it off—or sew your fucking mouth shut with so much force that you'd keep feeling pain from it for all eternity," he said with heavy irritation. Then, walking toward the coliseum and calming down, he added, "But you're not entirely wrong. This will be the place where you and the other champions will fight to the death. But the stakes are more than just seeing filthy animals fight. It's more than pride, more than glory, more than honor. But I'll leave that information until all our guests have arrived. In the meantime, I need to get you to your room and make you more… presentable."
He looked over Havoc's appearance and body with such horror and disgust that he wanted to throw up just from looking at him.
Havoc, having awoken yet again from Vael'thrix's fist and hearing he was disgusted by his appearance, looked at him again with anger. "Hahaha, I'm sorry that I'm not fucking some hot celebrity with a beautiful muscular body! I was too busy trying to maintain my life! Oh, and I fucking forgot my tuxedo at home because I didn't know I was going to be made part of some fucking champion deathmatch in some fucking up crazy god tournament!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, following Vael'thrix toward his room.
Vael'thrix, hearing Havoc's rude voice again, wanted to punish him, but realized it wasn't the time—yet. But as they kept walking, he responded. "Oh really? Whose fault is it, eating nothing but filthy junk food like those chili lime Doritos you humans can't stop shoving in your mouths? I never understand how you eat that disgusting slop. Even your so-called fast food can kill you more than anything dangerous in your world. It's amazing your kind has survived without improving your own health."
"Hey! Leave my spicy chili lime Doritos out of this! They're my tasty snack of heaven. Also, don't knock it if you haven't tried it. It's not my problem to deal with my kind's health issues—that's their own decisions and their own choices, and I don't judge those. We eat what we want. If we want to die, we die how we want. So whether we die doing a stupid stunt we saw in a fucking video or keep eating greasy fast food and tasty sweet treats—that's our decision. Anyway, we are who we are, and I don't judge. It's their own damn choice to make."
Vael'thrix, hearing Havoc's nonsense about freedom of choice, laughed. Which made Havoc irritated, seeing him mock his people's "freedom of choice."
He wanted to say something to Vael'thrix, but the demigod stopped him. "We're here."
In front of them stood a golden celestial door, covered with enchanted designs that looked like something out of a royal kingdom. No matter how much Havoc looked at it, it felt like it would take him straight to heaven. As he reached for the handle, Vael'thrix stopped him.
Havoc looked at him with irritation. "What's the big deal? You said this is my room."
"It is your room, mutt—but I haven't given you clearance to use it yet, you moron. If you had touched it, you would've set off the alarm and had your soul sucked out."
Havoc, hearing that his soul was almost sucked out of him, pulled his hand back quickly and looked at Vael'thrix with annoyance. "How come you didn't say anything about this?!"
Vael'thrix's answer? "You didn't ask."
Havoc's blood pressure skyrocketed. He tried his best not to jump this bastard then and there. No matter how strong Vael'thrix was, Havoc swore he would not forget any of this.
After Vael'thrix gave Havoc clearance to use the room, the door opened—and what he saw left him speechless.
Inside, the room was absolutely nothing but brightness. Like literally, there was nothing. Just emptiness. Just… light.
"Oh isn't this great," Havoc muttered sarcastically. "Instead of a darkness void, I got upgraded to a fucking bright room. What a fantastic design you put in my room, Vael'thrix. I really love it," he added with sarcastic irritation.
Vael'thrix, seeing his irritation, couldn't help but laugh a little on the inside. "You foolish mutt… this so-called 'bright room' that you find irritating hasn't been made by your design yet."
This stopped Havoc's irritation and made him look confused. Before he could ask, Vael'thrix continued, "This room can literally make up anything you could ever imagine—and it will come true."
To show what he meant, he thought of a queen-size bed with royal blankets. Poof. A queen-sized bed appeared in front of Havoc, who was surprised.
"You can even conjure up any of your filthy, disgusting food and junk food in here. And you won't gain weight from it. But you will feel satisfied."
To demonstrate, he conjured up a bag of chili lime Doritos and handed it to Havoc.
Havoc, having received such a heavily treasured item he thought he'd never see again, teared up out of happiness. He opened the bag, took out one chip, and took a bite.
It was bliss. The spice. The lime.
"Oh how I missed you, my comfort of joy…"
Vael'thrix, seeing this disgusting scene of Havoc enjoying his filthy snack, added, "You can even conjure up beauties to service you if your hormones are acting up—without worrying about pregnancy."
That caused Havoc to choke on his chip. He looked at Vael'thrix with surprise and irritation.
"What kind of man do you take me for?! Even though this is a man's dream—to conjure up any beauty he wants to spend the night with—I wouldn't want you making fun of me for being a pervert!"
Vael'thrix gave a sly smile and said with a mocking tone, "Oh really? What about those filthy pictures you've been looking at on your phone?"
Havoc blushed with embarrassment. "Can we move on, please?"
As much as Vael'thrix wanted to continue making fun of him—to get back at him for his disobedient and sarcastic behavior—he was right. Time was of the essence. His colleagues and their champions would show up in less than 10 minutes. He needed to make Havoc more presentable… and not the disgusting pig he currently looked like.
Then a thought crossed his mind. With a sinister look…
"You're right, Havoc… we should forget this silliness and move on to making you look more presentable."
Havoc was shocked to hear Vael'thrix agree—and to actually say his name instead of "filthy mutt." Which scared him. Because there were only two possible reasons:
1. The tournament starts in 10 minutes and Vael'thrix wants to rush this.
2. He found a way to punish him while making him presentable… very painfully.
Looking back at Vael'thrix, he gave a smile.
But not just any smile.
A sinister one.
With a snap of his fingers, the door closed and chained itself shut with golden links. Then Vael'thrix began walking toward him—each step sounding like judgment itself was coming.
Havoc began shaking, realizing he was about to experience a new kind of punishment.
As Vael'thrix came closer, he raised both hands and lifted Havoc into the air. Havoc struggled at first, but couldn't break free. Realizing there was no hope of escape, he accepted what was going to happen.
"Don't be so scared, Havoc. I'm just going to make you look presentable. We wouldn't want our guests to make fun of you or criticize your appearance. It's very important for me to make sure my Champion looks professional. So let's start by fixing that fat belly of yours."
He chuckled evilly like a madman.
What happened inside that room were the 10 most excruciating minutes of Havoc's life.
Pain like he'd never felt before.
Pain that no god could ever inflict.
But also—
It was 10 minutes of heaven for Vael'thrix…
Finally punishing Havoc for his disobedience and behavior.