Matthew walked in the other side of the portal, his heart heavy inside his chest and his mind fogged. Even with the slaughter that was already happening in front of him, he couldn't even focus on his surroundings. He was staring into the void by looking down at the ground. Rosemary and Lilith had gone to talk to him, to comfort him but he was unable to hear them. It was as if his mind was stuck in that exact moment he had experienced inside that dark room.
"Matthew...," voiced worriedly Rosemary and Dimitri placed a hand over her shoulder while shaking his head.
"200 people have died. The fifth trial has been completed,"
"We need to move on to the next floor," she added once everyone heard the messenger's voice.
Matthew, as if only now waking up, he raised his head and began walking forward, "Let's go...," he spoke with a seemingly emotionless and cold voice but the tears that were rolling down his eyes were giving his true feelings away.
The rest gave each other worried glances but chose to not say anything and followed shortly after him.
Once everyone stepped foot into the other room, they were surprised that they already reached the second Safe Zone.
"It's just like the room we entered after the first trial...," spoke Rosemary as they all saw the all so familiar surroundings, "Shall we go rest for a bit? After that, we could go to the Training Ground. No need to rush."
"That would be a wise choice...," agreed Dimitri but his voice was trailed off when he noticed the commotion at the center of the room, "What's going on there?"
Matthew narrowed his eyes and began walking forward once more, "Let's see what it is..."
People were gathered at the center of the room. Yells and murmurs could be heard from afar. It felt as if the people were angry and disturbed but in the other hand, some looked exited and amazed.
"Something serious must had happened...," thought Matthew as he was trying to pass ahead of the crowd, almost falling down and being suffocated in the process.
But his eyes widened as he stared at the reason for this gathering with his mouth wide open in complete suprise. In this room... In that exact moment...all the Gods that organised the Final Judgment were present right before everyone's eyes. The first to catch his attention, the God of Deceive himself.
"Ah, you arrived!" exclaimed Feller with a close-eyed smile and waved his right hand towards Matthew and his friends, "Aren't you glad to see me again~?" he joked as he walked closer towards them. The people by Matthew's side, taking a few steps back in suspicion.
"What's going on here? Are those...the rest of the Gods?" questioned Matthew the laid back God as his eyes took a look towards a mysterious God with silver hair in the far distance.
Then, Feller showed a smirk and turned to look at the rest as well, "That's right. Everyone except Chronos is present here to personally train you guys. You should consider yourselves lucky."
"What? Are you guys truly going to train us when you are the ones that tried to kill us? You must be joking," retorted Lilith with a suspicious glare and Feller just shook his hand in a dismissive manner.
"Believe it or not, see the personal training as an award for making it that far in the tower."
"Are they just going to train everyone here? At this rate, we might just never get out of here or just simply end up killing ourselves," voiced Dimitri as he crossed his arms together. He couldn't trust the Gods, especially the one before him.
"Don't be ridiculous," laughed the God of Deceive, "Each one of us is just going to choose one person from the ones we shared our powers with. Of course not everyone will be lucky to be trained by a God."
"And how can we trust you? You are the God of Deceive after all," emphasized Rosemary and Feller nodded his head.
"You are correct. You wouldn't know when to trust me. But with such matters, one can't simply lie about."
Matthew then tightened his fists and looked directly into the God's piercing yellow eyes, "You even spoke nothing but the truth back in the previous trial. Aren't you supposed to lie to us?"
Those words caused the God to show him a pleasant smirk, "I'll lie, when the time comes but I'll say the truth when I'm not supposed to," he replied and then let out a sigh while crossing tightly his arms together. Seeing everyone's displeased expressions made him want to bother them even more, "Let's play a game. I'll let you guys ask me two questions. One answer will be the truth and the other the lie. But I won't say which one is what. I'll simply leave it to your imagination. How about it?"
Everyone was pondering whether to accept or not but Matthew was quick enough to agree almost immediately, "Okay. Then I want to ask what's the real reason you guys wanted to create the Final Judgment."
Feller whistled and nodded his head at the seemingly brave human before his eyes, "My, you are quick. Then I'll give you my first answer. The reason the Final Judgment is happening, isn't only because people forgot about us. Yes, we did wanted to teach you guys a lesson for forgetting about your real creators, but the actual reason is that there was simply no reason to begin with. Gods are powerful immortal beings that have been living since the creation. It's only natural that some of them would be utterly bored, and what could be more entertaining than seeing humans fight each other?"
Everyone listened closely to the God and thought long and hard to come to a decision. Matthew, once more made the second question, "Are the Gods truly going to save everyone outside of the tower once this is over?"
Feller nodded his head once more, "Of course. You must know this from our messenger when you first entered the tower. Their safety is guarantee. Although it will cost the life of all the other humans in the tower except for the winner, there's no reason for us to do anything to the others as well. If you think about it, we never hurt a human in the first place, instead, we've been helping them by giving them powers. They are the ones that kill each other. So yes, I can promise you that we will immediately stop the destruction of the world once the winner is declared."
Matthew clenched his teeth and looked down at the ground. For some reason, he was feeling extremely worried about the answers they received. To him, both answers could be counted as truth. But what he was more worried about, was if the Gods will truly let the people outside of the tower live.
"Finally found you."
Everyone's attention was quickly shifted towards a tall woman with rich black skin and sky blue eyes. Her long shiny wavy blue hair were dancing in the air, as the golden bracelets on her hand were matching her gold accessories on her belly that connected her silk off shoulders top with her long skirt.
"Oh Iustitia... Couldn't you choose a better time to interfere? I was talking with them, you know," spoke Feller with a dramatic sigh towards the female god. She on the other had glared at Feller but once her gaze turned at the rest, it completely softened.
"Please, ignore this jester's meaningless words. I came here to personally congratulate you on your achievements so far. Please feel free to rest in this room for as long as you like. From now on, the end of the trials won't require for everyone to be present at the same time for you all to pass on to the next floor. Our messenger, Luna, will soon give you all the complete instructions," she explained and without another word, she turned her back and walked away.
"How boring...," commented the God of Deceive while rolling his eyes, "Anyways~" he then voiced with the tone of his voice changing immediately into his previous playful demeanor, "It's about time I introduce you someone~" he said as he brought his left arm around Matthews shoulder.
Matthew in the other hand looked at him in wonder, not quite understanding the God's intentions. He then looked at his friends waiting to see their reaction towards Feller's words. Much to his surprise, Aurora was the only one who nodded her head in agreement.
With that, he finally let out a sigh of defeat, "Alright..."
"Wonderful~"
And just like that, Matthew followed quietly behind the God of Deceive. Curious glances of people piercing his back. He was starting to feel anxious and suspicious about the God's behaviour but even so, he continued to follow him silently.
Much to his surprise, they both stopped behind a God with silver hair. He was wearing a pitch black fabric that was covering half of his left arm and fell down in a very long dress starting from his waist. His extremely pale exposed back was decorated with a golden spine that matched the big bracelet on his forearm and golden belt. Matthew had no doubt that this was the God that had caught his eye a while ago.
Before Matthew was able to say anything, Feller had already pushed him towards the strange God. Thankfully, he was able to stop himself before hitting him accidentally.
"Umbra, look what I found for you~"
Matthew immediately distanced himself from the God by the name Umbra and looked curiously towards Feller as if asking for some kind of help. Of course, the God of Deceive just ignored him by shrugging his shoulders in a laid back manner.
The God that Matthew almost bumped into, slowly turned his head around to look at both him and Feller with a faint glare. The white of his eyes were completely pitch black and the iris a shiny color of dark gray. He didn't uttered a single word but Matthew could already feel the weight of his powerful presence. For a moment, he could swear that he forgot how to breathe and move.
"...What's the meaning of this, Feller?" he voiced after a minute or so with his clear and deep voice.
Feller in the other hand just smiled mischievously and folded his arms together with a close-eyed smile, "Aw come on~ You should at least thank me~"
The God by the name Umbra, shifted his emotionless gaze towards Matthew and analyzed him for a few good seconds until he finally opened his mouth to speak, "Don't be too bothered by this irresponsible one. Please, enjoy the peace in this room while you still can."
And without speaking any more words, he turned his back once more and walked away.
"So? What do you think?" questioned Feller with a smirk as he brought his right arm around Matthew's neck.
"He seemed familiar for some reason... Who is he?"
"He is the God of Shadows. He is the one that gave you that power you have," he explained and Matthew's eyes slightly widened, "Anyways~" he voiced then and finally let go of Matthew, "You should go back to meet with your friends. I bothered you long enough already," he added without showing any signs of mischief or lies on his words which caused Matthew to get even more confused. Despite that, he slowly made his way back to the others.
~~~
"There you are, got any useful information with you?" asked Kristine while resting her hand or her waist.
Matthew just shook negatively his head and looked at the ground. It felt like he was witnessing too many things in a short period of time. His mind felt exhausted and his body heavy.
"That doesn't matter, what we are worried about is whether you are fine or not... You barely talk to us after...you know...," spoke worriedly Rosemary that caused Matthew to clench his fists. He raised his head and fought to give them all a big smile.
"I'm fine! Don't worry about me. Let's just focus on completing the trial and saving the world."
Despite his obvious forced cheerful smile, nobody dared to speak anything further than that.
After a while, murmurs could be heard from all over the room and that caught everyone's attention. They all turned to look at the Gods that were lining up next to each other on top of a black stage that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. Luna, the messenger, walked in front of everyone and looked down at the humans.
"Everyone, it's time I announce the reason your creators have come here in this very important moment. Each God will choose one single person to personally train them. This is a gift from the Gods to humanity's chosen ones. The rest of you, are free to rest or train here or simply proceed on to the next trials. The final parts of the trials will no longer require the presence of everyone in order to proceed as long as the specific amount of deaths will be met," she explained and then raised her right arm towards the first God at the left. "Now I will announce the name of the Gods and their trainees!"