"Very well. I shall tell you the rules of our game, human. Simply survive hell, and when the day ends and you are still yourself, then I shall grant you one of your wishes."
Benny thought about it. What wish would he want to prioritize? If it comes from a god, then anything is possible.
"I accept. But before that, I want you to hear what my wish is, and I want you to swear upon it with your divinity on the line."
Something twitched on Sitan's side profile. A vein may have popped. His smile almost faded. This human wasn't only bold, but his courage to speak in front of a god was uncanny. Where does this fearful man get his nerve?
Sitan continued to smile, though his light kept blinding Benny partially, preventing him from seeing what really lay behind those radiant expressions.
"Bold human, I must say. If that is what you want, then it is what we will follow. Now tell me what your wish is."
Benny thought carefully about his wish and finally answered. "Then my wish is simple. I want to know who I am, and if there is a way to get out of this place."
Sitan considered the request. As he opened his mouth to answer the first part of the question, something happened. He was silenced. Not by his own will, but by something far more powerful. More powerful than a god.
It was the universe speaking. It was the World System baring its fangs at him.
Sitan felt perplexed. It hadn't been that long since he'd experienced a similar encounter, but that had been from the God King himself. The one who had enacted his judgment and sealed him in this tomb. But what is this now? He felt anger boil inside him, rising like magma through stone.
"How dare you," he said to the cosmic skies.
But the World System saw this as a rebellious act. In an instant, Sitan was dragged back into his prison, back into his tomb. The entire structure shook and trembled as Sitan was pulled forcefully by invisible chains. Benny watched in shock. He hadn't expected to witness something so bizarre happening to an entity far above him in power.
About a minute passed. Everything went silent again.
Then came a blaring sound of horns being blasted across the dimensions.
Benny could only grasp at his already healed eardrums from before. Now they may have just ruptured again. The pain was sharp and immediate.
The space began to crack. The air trembled. Everything within the mausoleum shuddered with cosmic weight.
From the dimensional crack came beings of significance similar to Sitan. Perhaps even more powerful than his sealed state. Benny's eyes were now truly blinded, unlike with Sitan's divinity where he could still partially see. This time he was completely blinded, turning his eyes pure white.
That was how intense their presence felt. Yet he couldn't scream in pain. His voice refused to come out of him, locked somewhere deep in his throat.
While Benny remained blinded, enforcers of the World System emerged from the rift. Along with them was an administrator. Yes, it was Administrator Magnus.
The first ones who came out were deities of their own right, they are those who enforce the laws for those who break them, whether they are from heaven, the cosmos, or the world beneath it. But why were they sent here now?
The answer was simple. This wasn't as simple as a rebellion that Sitan had committed. It was something that went against the protection granted by the World System for their chosen prospects or champions. Gods, demons, deities, and cosmic entities had already allowed the World System to be a third neutral party so that it may enforce the natural laws of the universe and its order. At the same time, through the System, they become a middle man for the gods themselves. A way to circumnavigate the intricacies of the laws of the universe.
Hence, any direct action taken against a player by a god would constitute a violation. That's why Sitan was dragged by the enforcers back to his prison (tomb), and not directly by the soldiers of the God King himself who had placed Sitan here in the first place.
Sitan screamed. Of course he felt like he was wronged. But he didn't know the rules of the game and he has forgotten about it. He had poked at something that doesn't tolerate direct interference from outside parties. Especially when he tried to look into who this mortal truly was.
Because Benny's memories had been wiped out by the power of the System, and because Benny had already been made the second prospect of the world, it meant that he was under such protections. Sacred protections that even gods could not violate.
"Why? Why did you imprison me? I was merely trying to grant the mortal's wish!"
Admin Magnus merely shrugged at such an aggressive attitude. "I believe you already know the answer, my dear fallen god. The World System doesn't want any interference with its champions, especially from gods. The mortal's memories were wiped out as payment for his borrowed power from the System. If you try to forcefully look into it, it means you are trying to defy the World System that is tied to the Laws of the Universe. Consider this as a dutiful pity coming from me. If not, you would have ceased to exist by now. You know what? You should actually thank me for saving you from your own insolence."
Sitan was left stunned. For the first time since he was imprisoned here, for the first time in eons, he felt genuine fear. This was the first time he may have committed something so grave that he felt his body shudder involuntarily.
Not even gods could escape if the Laws of the Universe had enacted judgment. He would cease to exist. Not just die, but be erased as if he never existed in the present, the past, or the future. Complete annihilation from all timelines.
So quietly, he stood there in his cell in utter disbelief. This mortal was more than what he had thought when he first peeked at him. A fucking champion. A fucking piece on the board the gods play. This insignificant-looking human had this much power over him?
Fucking unbelievable.
"Hahaha, I know what you're thinking, my dear fallen one. Your anarchistic views are unique, I'll give you that. But we are all merely players in this giant board game we play. We are moveable pawns that will never be able to break free from our fates or our destinies. Now, I do understand your wicked intentions. You were trying to consume this mortal after he would fail miserably in your little game. So I would like to propose a deal to you. On behalf of you, if you so wish, then if you hire us in the proper order as it should have been, we could be the ones to enact your silly little game. So how about it? Would you like to gamble?"
Magnus let it simmer down before putting down the big caveat. It was a reverse deal that even the great Sitan who had been trying to become more evil in his ways, saw a tiny glimpse of the Administrator's grin. He was being played.
"But you know that there is always an equal exchange if you accept this, yes?"
Sitan then realized something profound. After all the years he had spent here, after all his rage and rebellion, he too hadn't really gotten far away from this corrupt system. He was still a participant in it whether he liked it or not. Still trapped in the game he claimed to despise and tried to question and overthrow.
He could only swallow his fit of rage for now, at least. He knew he couldn't win against the enforcers, especially when this world's admin was here personally.
"Very well. The price I will pay will be my freedom. Well, I've already been locked up in here for as long as I can remember. Might as well make it permanent."
Admin Magnus knew there was also a reason why Sitan chose this particular payment. But he didn't care about that. He had no qualms about what the gods do to each other as long as they play by the rules. As long as the game remained fair, as long as the cosmic balance was maintained.
"Very well, very well. We shall accept your payment, dear customer."
The rift that had opened began to close. The enforcers filed back through in orderly fashion. Admin Magnus turned to follow them, but not before he looked at Benny one last time. The mortal was still unconscious, still blind and deaf, still unaware of what had just transpired around him.
"A pity," Magnus said to no one in particular. "I wonder if he will ever meet our favorite prospect." (August Finn)
He smiled and went his way. Maybe someday, he thought. Maybe someday these two champions would cross each other's paths. That would be interesting to watch.
Benny was sent into a deep sleep by the residual cosmic energy. Sitan was locked in his tomb, unable to do anything but watch. Unable to move. Unable to act. Unable to even speak beyond the confines of his prison.
So he could only watch the lying mortal through the barriers of his cage. If he could only squash him like a bug. If he could only reach through these invisible walls and crush the life from that insignificant body.
Fuck.
"I'll make all of you pay one day," Sitan whispered into the darkness of his tomb. His hatred and bitterness were now more reinforced than ever. More potent than they had been in for eons.
The World System had humiliated him. The administrators had mocked him. And this mortal, this fragile human, had somehow become untouchable. Protected by laws that even gods must obey.
Sitan's eyes glowed in the darkness as he stared at Benny's sleeping form. One day, he thought. One day the protections would fade. One day the game would shift. One day he would have his revenge.
But until then, he could only wait. And watch. And plan.
The mausoleum fell silent once more, save for the quiet breathing of a sleeping mortal and the seething rage of a fallen god.