[IC] Rising: A New Age of Gods

[Ryu]

"Aquarius..." Mizuchi said as he sat on the rock, his hand still held out to the side of him, holding onto the trident upright. "Anything? No gods even near the sea? Really? Are we sure? Are you sure?" Of course, asking Aquarius wouldn't cause a god to appear near or in the ocean, even Mizuchi knew that there were no gods near or in the ocean since the location of the gods were in his head.

Yes, I'm sure, Aquarius said inside of Mizuchi's head, his tone becoming more and more spiteful as the second passed by. What? Do you not trust me? Is it because I'm a trident? Do you want something more? Something more "better?"

"Oh, no! No!" Mizuchi was quick to recover, trying not to insult Aquarius. After this, things settled down with Mizuchi staring off into the blue sea, seeing fish swim around. "Hey... you want to go inland?"

... If we were to go inland, what do you suppose would happen...? Mizuchi hesitated, trying to think up of an answer, trying to go through the various scenarios, but his mind drew up a blank. You would die, plain and simple. Aquarius withdrew himself as a physical entity and went back into Mizuchi's head.

Suddenly, an image appeared inside of Mizuchi's head, an image of two gods standing on a wet cliff side. One of the gods was lying on his back, crawling back, looking up at the other god - who Mizuchi presumed was the sea god - who held a trident up to his neck. The sea god - whilst he may not be the most aggressive and hostile god - is still known to the other gods as aggressive and hostile. What would happen if any god ever caught sight of you would be them trying to kill you, and you? You? You defending yourself? Please, you'd die.

"... Well, that's just a risk we have to take then, don't we?" Mizuchi grinned as he summoned Aquarius to his side again, digging him straight into the dirt. Mizuchi stood up and stared at the trident, who stood upright. "I say we take it, how about it? I can always explain to them that I'm friendly, besides, who wouldn't trust this grin?" Aquarius gave out a long and drawn out sigh before speaking.

Do you even know how to get inland? Mizuchi did his iconic "thinking pose," which was putting his finger to his chin area and tapping it repeatedly. Mizuchi then smiled, thinking of an idea, a rather stupid idea.

"I can swim there!" Suddenly, Aquarius fell over in the sea, falling to the sea floor, but this was due to the pure stupidity of Mizuchi himself. Mizuchi bent over to grab Aquarius and stuck him back into the ground.

Swimming there... at an average rate of three miles and a half per hour... and we're many, many miles away from the land... are you... are we SURE you're the sea god? Aquarius was surprised, mostly at Mizuchi's stupidity, but surprised nonetheless. You can propel yourself forward in the sea, this is your domain, after all.

"So... basically swimming... but faster?" Aquarius fell over once again out of Mizuchi's stupidity. Mizuchi reached over to grab Aquarius, and once again, dug him into the ground.

It's propulsion, you idiot! Anyhow, this will boost your speed to fifteen miles per hour, not as fast as I would like it to be, but fast enough, and I don't think you can do the other way of transportation... yet...

"Eh?"

Oh my word, GET TO PROPELLING, IDIOT! Aquarius had loss all of his patience at this point and disappeared, going back inside of Mizuchi's head.

"Heh... how do I propel?"

... Just swim normally and think of the sea moving with you, I guess... are we sure you're the sea god? Mizuchi ignored Aquarius, only giving a slight nod.

[enkas]

Raymond woke up in the morning, completely unaware of the events happening somewhere else. As it was for him for quite a long time, Ray's first action was simply to pray, just after getting out of bed, still in his night clothes. He knelt near his bed, onto which a warm ray of sun had shone through the window, and started his first prayers. After more than a half of an hour of saying various prayers that he memorized, the man stood up and went to the shower. After exiting and dressing up, he had boiled himself some rice and ate it with sugar and raisins, while having a cup of tea near as well.

After finishing his breakfast, the man had simply put on his priestly robe and drove back to the church, as while they were no cermons in other days rather than Sundays, he still had duties to do there.
((sorry for such a short post))

[Sakaki Chizuru]

You are winner! Perfect game!

Of course she was, why wouldn't she be? She was the greatest in the world. She was to fast and to furious for you. Her screen name made complete sense after you have played a game with her, whatever the game may be. There wasn't a game Kaguya would lose, and hopefully, everybody around the world would know it now, especially since she was a god, or something like that. Honestly, she really wouldn't have cared less, but now she would have a far more interesting game to play.

A Battle Royal between gods, the winner winning the right to become The One True God. This had the setup to be the greatest game ever, hopefully off the combatants would be just the same. Most of the time, it isn't the game that has become boring, it is the people playing who make it boring. She had high hopes for her competition, even though they should just quit now.

This was nothing more than a game, and nobody beats Kaguya "2fast2furious4u" Nakamura at any kind of game.

Oh, right, it was time for her to accept her trophy, prize, and give her victory speech. She knew exactly what she was going to say, and this would be her first move in this glorious battle royal.

Kaguya made her way to a pedestal, removing her earplugs, and putting a smile on her face. While the match was incredibly boring, it would have broke The_Fiend more than his first lost already was. He did try his hardest, but it was irrelevant, he wasn't the best. The match was decided way before it begun.

Was it fate?

Not at all, Kaguya was just way better than he was.

" Ahem, this was a fun tournament, and I want to thank the country of Greece for hosting such an event! I do plan on donating the prize money from this event, as I don't really need any money and the people of this great nation deserve it. I want to thank all of my fans for being here to support me in this event. Even if it is just for something like gaming, it really does mean a lot. Hopefully, I will see you all in Beijing. "

With that out of the way, Kaguya left the building and was on her way to a nearby airport. She had a flight to catch to Beijing, as the next major gaming tournament was going to be held there. She was the best gamer in the world, so of course she would show up to every major gaming tournament in the world. Anyone who would think otherwise would be crushed.

However. . .

She didn't want to deal with any unexpected visitors until she was ready. In time she would crush them all, but for now, she needed to relax and prepare her next few moves.

Being The God of Falsehoods was pretty great, and came with a lot of cool things. And, because of that, she could create several billion false god pings all around the world. Some of them were in the ocean, some int he air, and she even sent one to the moon. She really wanted to see if anyone would try that. This would greatly confuse all of the other gods, as they couldn't sense any of the others. If every other god becomes horribly confused, Kaguya could easily take advantage of it and easily and systematically wipe out the rest one by one without anyone getting in her way. It was also good cover when she needed to play games, because she needs to do that. . . a lot.

Of course, Kaguya could easily see past her own Falsehoods, but could the rest?

Being Kaguya was great, too bad nobody else could be her.

Sux2suxnewbs

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

Some time later. . .
"I was unsure if Changmu heard me. Perhaps I was too hasty in my decision to take on that girl." Charles mused. The wizard walked up towards the steps of the museum, now being used as a safe house from the raiders and gangs that sometimes ransacked houses and other areas where people had left their homes vacant. The evacuation of the area was not total. Outside, after Charles phased himself through the museum doors, he looked out behind him. There was a squad of soldiers marching. . . obviously towards Fairfield. The entire city had gone into a panic. It was being evacuated, but some people were too afraid to leave their homes. Some were being eaten alive. The wizard shuddered at the thought of this actually happening. He turned his head, and started to walk forward, as guns started to point at his head. There appeared to be homeless people, or at least very shabbily dressed folk in the Museum's very spacious lounge. This place had it's own power supply, and running water, they could remain here for quite some time.

Charles had only one reaction to the guns pointing at his body, he motioned his hands faster than they could pull their triggers, and found their guns now floating in their air, pointing towards them. "I am a friend. As I understand it, there are some people who can't just walk out and leave the city. More than a handful of you are former criminals barely starting a new life. I am an answer for your earnest heart's desire to turn around and live with honor." One of the former thugs stood up from his comfortable lounge chair and gave Charles a skeptical look. "What the fuck? What the hell are you doing coming in here like you can talk to us like that? Your mystic juju isn't going to make us lick your ball sack."

Charles gave a smug look. "Jason." He nodded towards them all, naming the ten men who were in the lounge, and winking at the many others who were witnessing the scene in front of them. "I know you all, and I don't need fancy electronic gadgets to spy on you to know all this." He looked at Jason and referrenced his vulgar statement. "I don't want boot lickers, I want students. Not disciples, but those who would study what I have to teach. You can deal with your problems the way normal people do, maybe with counseling, if you can find some, maybe a Church or other sort of reform, but I have not come to have you "Lick my ball sack".

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not your average street magician. I can tell you all have what it takes to become very upstanding citizens. You also all have very sharpened wits, some of you who seem dumber than any other have the most specialized focus to become renowned minds of the sciences and other important fields of study. Listen. . . please. All I want you to do is consider that I can help you." He paused for breath and then continued. "You have taken refuge here in this abandoned museum, for many good reasons. It's security systems, it's self-sufficiency of electric power, you all have plenty of room for storage, and heck, if you run out of ammunition for long range weapons, there are still swords and weapons of antiquity that are available for your use."

"There's plenty of food to chow down for, and even sanitary supplies, although I"m sure you had to supply much of that to yourselves. What if I told you I could just get you all out of legal trouble without any effort at all? All of you have bounties on your head, some folks want you dead, others want you in prison, but circumstances presently dictate any prison sentence will be a death sentence, and maybe a rape and/or torture sentence on your heads anyway. What happens when the alert goes away and you're stuck here? The walking dead are coming from neighboring Fairfield, and they may well take their entire city and spread out across the local area. If the law doesn't eat you alive, the walking dead just may."

"Follow me as students, and I will take away your sentences." They were all skeptical as they saw this. . . "You need to prove to us that you aren't just some charlatan, cult leader or something." Jason stated. With that, Charles nodded. "That's a fair request." Charles blinked, and immediately, the one hundred folk using the Museum as their home for the time being found themselves in the Void. A floating area of space. They were sitting on their chairs or standing up on their feet. All of them looked around. "What the hell?"

Charles smiled. "Relax. .. I can bring it all back." He waved his hands, and the folk all found themselves in the City Park. "Any of you who would have rejected my offer are still in the Museum. . . Now, with my final act of magic for a short while, I'm bringing us all to an area out West, in Phoenix Arizona. . . it's far enough away from this "Zombie" problem, that we should have time to ourselves."

[SumikaTheBeautiful]

Daigo Uzuki stared at the screen. 'You are winner! Perfect game!' it said. He was used to seeing these words. After all, he'd see them every time he played this game. And he played it quite often, seeing as how it was his favorite game and all. However, this time something was different. Something was definitely off, and The Fiend couldn't quite put his finger on it.

And then he realized.

The thing that was "off?" It was the simple fact that he was not the winner of this game. It was his opponent. The God of 2D Fighting Games(as his fans had christened him) had been defeated. Over 10 years of nothing but Perfect Victories and getting first place in every tournament he'd ever played in, be it sanctioned such as this one or simply a series of challenges in the local arcade. Daigo Uzuki had finally lost.

The young man had heard of his opponent before. How could he not have? 2fast2furious4u was somewhat of a household name among pro gamers as well as the average game-playing internet user. Of course, The Fiend was just as famous. Daigo was excited to finally play a game against Kaguya. Surprisingly, they'd never participated in the same tournament until now. He was looking forward to beating her. He had no doubt in his mind that the outcome would simply be yet another perfect game in his favor. After all, he never lost. The Fiend was unbeatable. The keyword in that statement being "was."

And Daigo did not understand.

The concept of failure was an entirely new thing to him. The last time he'd lost a game of anything was before he even really knew the difference between winning and losing. Thus, he'd never felt this feeling before. And it was painful. His mind still had not even begun to process how a loss on his end was possible. In his mind, there was not a single human alive who could defeat him. In his mind, he was a messiah among gamers, one who would lead the casual -Lambs- to the Eden of competitive play. In his mind, only a god could possibly beat him.

Daigo snapped out of his daze and blinked a few times. He could no longer see the screen in front of him. Looking around, the young gamer realized he was surrounded by fans(of both himself and the one who had beaten him) and interviewers. Dropping his usual nice-guy celebrity facade for what was likely the first time in public, he shouldered most of them off with a simple "I need to catch my flight to my Beijing tournament," and shoved his way through the crowd and out of the building.

Once on the street he ran in the direction of the airport. He wasn't in danger of missing his flight, no, he had plenty of time. But that wasn't the reason he was running.

The instant his opponent came into his field of view, he burst into a sprint before collapsing into a slow walk, hands on his knees and gasping for breath. Daigo was a professional gamer, not a professional athlete. He didn't have the time to exercise, so he got winded easily. Give him a break.

After catching his breath, the young man quickened his pace to catch up with the girl. Once close enough, he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "How'd you beat me?" he demanded. "Only a god could beat The_Fiend. And don't tell me you're a god, they don't exist."

Though he said "[gods] don't exit," Daigo was unsure of himself. He couldn't be sure of anything at this point. His entire world outlook had just been shattered by this girl. In his current state of mind, it was likely he actually would believe something as absurd as her being a god.

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

Phoenix, Arizona
In Phoenix and in the surrounding Arizonan population centers, their were dead following into the afterlife. Many people already had their own views on spirituality, gods and such things, but there were some who didn't really have time to develop certain views on the after life and religion. Charles imagined that the unborn who perished, for any reason, abortion, miscarriage, some complications of pregnancy, or whatever, would be an excellent source to fuel his power. Their pure souls would belong to him. He stayed in the area, but he wondered if he should move on to greener pastures. The woman in Beijing had the most power available to her, since there were higher concentrations of population in India, and China than anywhere else. Others were spread throughout the world. . . for now, Charles thought he had to come up with some sort of plan, for now, he considered eventually moving to somewhere else. Somewhere he could take the souls of possible students, and others. As the time temporarily passed, Charles knew, or at least, reasoned that he could undo the death goddess'es damage to his home country. . .

Tickets to India were taken for the full hundred members of Charle's Dante Richardson's students. What should they call them? Wizards? Well, for now, Wizards would do. . . Charles could get the entire group to India, all with First Class tickets. . . and set up shop there.

[BB]

The world, to be frank, was in chaos. To think it wasn't would be insane. All over the internet and news, there were reports of a impending Zombie invasion. People were scared. Mobs were scared. Even countries were scared.

To put it bluntly, the world was in a period of Chaos. And while the death of many was always a sad thing, in this case, it was excellent for Changmu's agenda. Thankfully, she had heard what the Magic God had to say, and she certainly would consider it. He seemed like someone she'd like to at least keep on neutral ground with, since he seemed somewhat more concerned about the world then becoming "The One God".

Sighing, the girl stood up. It was time to handle things. Stepping outside to the semi polluted air, Changmu looked around. It seemed the city was slowly devolving into chaos- The PAP would likely handle this, but it'd take more than a few minutes for them to mobilize.

[LaXnyd]

Ming-hua really was just minding her own business. She had heard of the zombie threat, yes, but she had believed it to be of little importance to her; something only for laowai. Her? All she really wanted to do was to go to school like normal and then spend her afternoon training like she usually did. Why did the world have to be so cruel as to change her comfortable life? What kind of deity did she anger?

It was because she tried to head to school like normal that she found herself right in the middle of a riot, one of the many that had sprung up in fear of the zombie horde. Unfortunately for her, she was also an outsider apparently - the mob had a great "with us or against us" mentality, and seeing as she wasn't panicking and crying that the world was going to end in a zombie apocalypse she found herself being seen as "against" the mob. Great.

As such, it was in this situation she found herself cornered on the street, holding her favoured weapon - a staff - with at least fifteen unconscious rioters with a large lump on their heads lying on a heap on the ground around her while the mob continued their yelling, chanting and mayhem.

[Sakaki Chizuru]

Kaguya looked up at the television inside of the airport, but she didn't really understand what was being said. It was Greek, so she really had no way of understanding it. However, it did seem like people were panicking all around, even inside of the airport. She was honestly confused, but since she didn't understand anyone anyway, she didn't really bother caring. She was a god now, so they're plebeian concerns probably weren't worth carrying about.

Wait, no, that is a bad mentality for a god. She should totally care about their problems.

Eh, she would deal with it later, it was now time to head to Beijing.

Kaguya was making her way onto her flight, even though she still had a bit of time, she would much rather sit inside of the plane and play some games. However, someone managed to grab her arm and turn her around.

As one would expect from any pure maiden attacked by some random person, she slapped him across the face and proceeded to proclaim "Raaaaaaaaaape!", but then she realized that it was The_Fiend.

Kaguya slapped him across the face once more for good measure, Who the hell did he think he was?! You don't just touch a god, but even worse, you don't just touch 2fast. That was like an insult to all her fans, no, it was an insult to every gamer alive. She was the greatest gamer, and nobody could just go around touching her without her consent.

Oh well, she didn't have time to deal with him, however, she did flash a smile when he accused her as a god.

Why?

Because it was ironic. She was a god, but it wasn't like she used her god powers to cheat. Of course not. That would just be overkill of the highest order, and he probably would have died within the first 5 seconds.

She turned back around and entered the boarding dock. She honestly should have taken a private jet, but this way, she might be able to run into some adoring fans. Now that would be the best thing. She could spend the entire long flight signing autographs, and being adored, while gaming at the same time.

Kaguya still loved being Kaguya.

[SumikaTheBeautiful]

Daigo ignored the majority of what was being said on the various televisions. It was news or something, but that didn't matter. It was all Greek to him(both literally and figuratively). The young man only knew Japanese and some rudimentary English. It wasn't his fault he had no idea what the newscasters were going on about. There wasn't a single place in Japan(that he knew of) that actually taught Greek. And even if he knew a place that did, it wasn't like he was going to go out of his way to learn it. There were no such things as games made in Greece, after all.

Anyway. Back on topic. Greek newscasters shouting something about "spartoi" or something had nothing to do with Daigo at the moment. Probably.

Probably.

The_Fiend felt somewhat insulted by 2fast's lack of reply other than shouting "rape" before he even had a chance to act. It was pretty rude of her, all things considered. You don't just ignore The Fiend. That's not cool. Not cool at all.

However, Kaguya did not ignore Daigo's inquiry of how she beat him. It may not have been noticeable if the two were not speaking so closely to one another (due to the young man's rather aggressive manner of initiating conversation) unless the inquirer had been focusing closely on the inquired's facial reactions. The only response she had given was a brief smile.

That was, of course, ignoring the two slaps. The two slaps were definitely a reaction. The first was probably to demonstrate her romantic interest in him. The second was probably in case he didn't get it the first time. After all, if the hefty amounts of dating sims he played were to be believed, the girl was just being a tsundere. If Daigo were any other man, he would feel flattered by Kaguya's public displays of affection. But Daigo was not was not any other man. Daigo was The Fiend. He chose to ignore 2fast's advances, seeing as how he was already married.

To video games, that is.

Video games and his waifu(Seri Kawakuji from the Jin Megumi Tensai spinoff, Mask 4).

Back on track, the only meaningful reaction noticed by Daigo was the smile. To him, this reaction was extremely important. If the hefty amounts of dating sims he played were to be believed, the reaction of a simple smile was sometimes the most important reaction to look out for. Usually, it meant they character was hiding a secret.

And what was the smile a reaction to?

"Only a god could beat The_Fiend. And don't tell me you're a god, they don't exist."

Ah, yes. That was it. He inadvertently accused her of being a god. The smile probably meant she was indeed one(or at least, that's the conclusion Daigo's currently unstable mind's logic led him to).

And it made perfect sense. That was how she was able to end The Fiend's winning streak. He stood with a blank expression for a few moments before finally deciding it would be a good idea to board his plane, so he did so. Once on the boarding dock, he looked at his boarding pass for his seat number; A1. The first seat, a first class window seat. How perfect for such a champion.

Daigo also figured he may as well follow Kaguya and continue to interrogate her, seeing as how they happened to be on the same plane. "I've never met anyone with a reaction time like yours. It's like you know what I'm going to do a full 180 frames before I do it. How'd you get that good at predicting people?"

[DELETED324324]

San Fransico, California

Jordan shot awoke trying to escape the voices of his dead comrades that still fight their haunting battles in his dreams, but something was different something was off thoughts were racing through Jordan's head faster than he could process them things that Jordan didn't know, his mind was in a state of chaos and Jordan didn't know how to fix it his thoughts seemed to be fractured altered, but Jordan didn't have time to catch these thoughts before his cell phone rang reaching for it on his night stand looking at the number and seeing it was his sister he took the call his sister sounded frightened and scared but she spoke over him "You need to come get me right now things are going to hell and we need you here?" that shook Jordan awake a little
"Wait? What is going on?"
"No Time, just get here as fast as you can."
With that said the phone call was ended and Jordan sat there for a split second looking at his phone wondering but after shaking off the shock he got dressed as fast as he could grabbing the Beretta he kept in a safe on his wall and some spare mags after that was all done, he opened the door to his apartment only to find chaos people were rioting near his apartment signs that said "The End is near" In big black letters and "Repent" in big red letters people were huddling all this chaos seemed to put Jordan's mind on the straight and narrow his thoughts seemed to clear everything seemed right for the first time in his life hopping in his car a new feeling of vigor washing over him Jordan drove for his sisters apartment near the bay.

[GuyYouWishYouDidntKnow]

Peel back the layers, and see what exists beneath.

"Territory games, how idiotic."

It was irksome, but some things needed to be done. The zombie horde would claim North America, the Inventor would claim Asia, and so on if the trends continued as they had. If this was the case, then Ellona would simply claim the underlying structure. If they would assume direct control, she would assume indirect.

A system on a planetary scale couldn't be applied yet, not with her current power, so she'd have to make do with creating several smaller ones to knit together. A thousand points of light scattered across the planet, pale strings of ephemeral gold tying them to one another as they sunk beneath the surface.

"All ordained by the natural order, all ordained by my natural order."

[DragonBeastMode]

Lulu was getting the hang of her powers, it would still take some weeks to get control of the stronger skills. Hopefully she had enough time to get her powers under control. Being so called Mother Nature, it had came with a big responsibility, she can control the weather on earth, the animals, the plants, any kind of matter that was made from earth. It was a big deal to have these powers, but having hunting as a skill was good, when it came down to a fight, Lulu had great tactics, and skill. Everything was getting complicated, but she would find a way to defeat this evil that was coming. With the help of her animal companions, and the vivid dreams she kept having, Lulu was bound to get stronger. But for right now she was getting tried. "Ok everyone back in your cages, and Mr. Chopper, Carrie is about to come and get you." All the animals obey her, she was getting the hang of being a leader too, she would need all the animals, if this fight was going to happen. A few minutes later, Carrie hopped into the shop, "Hi Miss Lulu, is Mr. Chopper feeling any better?" She asked, with a giant smile on her face. "Yes, but I want you to bring him back here tomorrow, so I can do some more studies with him." Carrie shucked her head yes,grab Mr. Chopper's leech, gave Lulu a hug, and hopped into her mother's car. Today was a weird day, and tomorrow was not going to be any better.

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

India
Charles, Dante Richards, now just going by the name of Dante, read the newspaper report in his hotel room, now being used as a Mage School in Calcutta. He was sitting at a round table, noticing that the man on the other side in front of him was curious as to what he was talking about. Charles read the Newspaper article out loud.
"In its 2013 report India's Hell Holes: Child Sexual Assault in Juvenile Justice Homes, the Asian Centre for Human Rights said that sexual offences against children in India have reached epidemic proportion.

The report stated that more than 48,000 child rape cases were recorded from 2001 to 2011 and that India saw an increase of 336% of child rape cases from 2001 (2,113 cases) to 2011 (7,112 cases).

"Imagine 48,838 children raped in just 10 years and you have a small measure of how deep the inhuman phenomenon of child rapes runs in India," correspondents Nishita Jha and Revati Laul wrote last year on a Tehelka blog.

Related
India: Deaf, Mute Orphan Girls Raped at Jaipur Therapy Centre, Say Police
India Rape: Girl, 5, Dies from Assault as Mother Demands Death Sentence for Suspects
India: Marriage Annulled of Laxmi Sargara, Girl who was Betrothed as One-Year-Old
"Child sexual abuse is rampant, indiscriminate and cuts across class, geography, culture and religion. It happens in cities and villages, by fathers, brothers, relatives, neighbours, teachers and strangers," Jha and Laul continued.

In 2012, the Indian Parliament passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences.

According to a 2007 study by the Indian Government of nearly 12,500 children from across India, 53% of children - boys and girls equally - were victims of sexual abuse.

He slammed the newspaper hard on the table in anger, the metallic table shook very hard, and he slammed it hard enough that the table legs broke, and he half-way broke the table down the middle, from one end to the other, almost snapping it in two.

"You have been running an illicit sex ring for years. You will tell me everything you know. If you don't, I can end you and leave you in a shallow grave." Dante grabbed the man by his neck in one hand and brought him up, then slowly began applying dangerous pressure on the criminal's neck. The man struggled for air, and managed to spurt out the names of contacts, people, and his entire networks connections.

Charles calmed down and put him on his feet. "Thank you." Dante simply blinked, and the man erupted in flames, which transformed his body into ashes in just over three seconds. . .Anonymous messages were given to the authoritie's of New Delhi on a silver platter. Along with extortionary messages to do something about it, which could not be decoded, by anyone anywhere. It seemed impossible to find out who was sending these threats to the government of India. . .

[Oni_]

Rucks Kennithson.- Somewhere in the Nevada desert - 3 miles from Vegas.

The Nevada desert is a surprisingly good place to figure out your powers. No one's around and it's a large empty space, ideal for those larger ideas. Three hours? That was plenty of time to spare.

The first concept of Rucks' domain was the most simple to master: Travel.

As it happens Rucks wasn't a runner. he was lacking in the stamina department when it came to his long distance but anything shorter than 100 meters was manageable. What if he could make travel instantaneous though? He'd share a shit ton on travel expenses that's for sure. Close his eyes, picture somewhere, will his movement and open his eyes. Nothing. Exactly the same place. Maybe the three miles to his hotel room was too much?

If at first you don't succeed then try again, maybe you won't fuck it up the second time. Perhaps this time he would only try a few feet? Close your eyes, picture the destination and will the movement. If he did this correctly Rucks would be next to a boulder or some sort. Open your eyes, perfect. Perhaps there would be a better way to travel larger distances? He would figure that out in a second.

The second and third concepts of his domain would be more difficult: The Skies and the Winds.

Perhaps he could master flight? No, after his earlier failure he felt that would be too advanced. Perhaps simple manipulation of the air around him was a better place to start, maybe pickup some pebbles? Concentrate on what's around you, divert the winds and apply it to the object, funnel them around the mass until the resulting pressure moves it to your will. Something simple was probably an overstatement, an hour went by until the stone decided to move. Even then the effort had exhausted him just trying to manipulate the winds. From his endeavours however he had learnt a concept about the power he was attempting to harness:

Much like energy the winds he controlled could not be created or destroyed from thin air; they can only be manipulated. Three clauses to this rule were:
A. The air could be manipulated to his will, this included expansions and reductions. However in spirit of the first rule the wider he spread the winds the less powerful they were, an inverse proportion of power.
B. While winds can't be created they can be merged and sundered. This means that rather than one incredibly large stream with little power instead three smaller streams which move independently of each other would be created.
C. Winds don't like to be kept still, as a result they have to keep constant momentum making immobilising enemies incredibly difficult, perhaps this was less of a clause and more of an ineptitude in Rucks' abilities.

The final concept of his domain was probably best left untouched at this moment: messaging.

He hadn't a clue how to manipulate something like that. Perhaps later he would have some form of epiphany.

[Sakaki Chizuru]

Kaguya kept on walking forwards, ignoring the man behind her. Once she found her seat, she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore, so it wasn't like it really mattered. Sure, this was incredibly rude and terrible sportsmanship, but she had far more important things on her mind.

She needed to plan out her next moves carefully, and she couldn't fall into the traps of others. Kaguya knew exactly where the other gods were, and none could track her at the moment, but that didn't mean she could afford to be careless. She was on her way to Beijing, and knows that there is currently god there, but even more enlightening, that two gods were in the same area at the same before one suddenly leaving.

Now, she just had to deduce if it was a peaceful meeting or one filled with hostility There wasn't a way to decide for sure, but 2fast knew she could reach the proper answer with enough time thinking.

One was there for a fairly short time before going over to another god. A third god happened to show up at that meeting, yet all three made it out alive. From that alone, it could be easily to tell that this god cares more about peaceful interaction instead of fighting. That would either make him a decent individual, or a weak coward who doesn't know how to deal with this.

Now Kaguya could fairly see what he was trying to do, and she could tell that he wasn't anything like her. He was planning as he moved, instead of planning ahead and preparing himself for counterattacks. Winning a game isn't simply having the proper counter to an opponent when they attack, it is knowing your opponent's attack before it happens, so they fall into your own trap little by little.

She could of course be wrong, but given how this man kept hopping around the map. He was making everything up as he went along, not planning 20 moves ahead like Kaguya was. There is a reason why Kaguya was the greatest gamer in the world, and it was more than just good reflexes. That wasn't enough to beat everyone in the world. But being able to plan ahead of your opponent and know their next action before they do it, now that would win you every game every time.

Kaguya took her seat as 1B, which sadly wasn't a window seat. Of course she would be in first class, why wouldn't she be? Not only could she afford the ticket anyway, Beijing was the one who invited Kaguya to the tournament anyway. Having 2fast at your tournament meant that you were going to get a lot of publicity, a sold out arena, and the most important of all, tons of gaming cred.

Since Kaguya was in deep thought, she hadn't noticed that The_Fiend followed her to her seat. Man, this guy was being such a creeper. She understood that she had an absolutely flawless body, but stalking was a whole different level. Her fans could get a bit crazy, but this was totally different.

Maybe he would stop if she answered his question? Well, if it didn't, she would just call the police to get him away. That always worked, and it would also ruin The_Fiend's image as well.

" Look, I didn't cheat to beat you. I just studied all of your other matches in the tournament. I knew exactly what combos and moves you would do when you caught me in a certain position. So, I simply baited you, hopped away, and released hell when you couldn't fight back. I picked an agile character just to make sure I could get in, harass you, and get out before I took any damage. I could have ended the game much earlier, but I wanted the Perfect Game, so I played with extreme caution.

Are you happy now? I told you exactly how I did it. You can now do the same thing to me, but I'll still crush you in the end. "

[SumikaTheBeautiful]

"No, I'm not happy now."

Daigo's loss was still bothering him. There was no way such a basic baiting tactic could've ended his streak of over 10 years. It' just wasn't possible. Either 2fast was leagues above any other player that existed or she cheated. The first was unlikely, seeing as how Daigo himself already fit that bill; there was no way someone was that much better than he was. The only way she could have won would have been cheating. That or being a god, and we've already establish there's no such thing as gods.

Probably.

Moments prior to speaking, Daigo had come to the conclusion of Kaguya's godhood. But in that short time, he'd once again convinced himself how absurd that was. Despite that, however, his mind kept on returning to that conclusion. Only a god could defeat Daigo Uzuki. Only a god could defeat The_Fiend. There was no other way he could have lost. There was no other way. No other way. He was sure of it.

The Fiend crawled over his new rival to reach his window seat which just so happened to be next to her. This was an opportunity for him: he'd be able to continue getting information out of her. Hopefully, he'd be able to figure out how she really beat him. Surely she wasn't a god. Maybe she was. But she probably wasn't. Or maybe...

Not worth worrying about right now. What mattered now was how a human could bet Daigo. Not a god.

"Explain to me how all you needed to do was analyze my movements and you were suddenly able to figure out exactly what I was going to do. I have a method of changing things up precisely so that strategy doesn't work on me. The fact that you've beaten me at all proves you cheated. I'm sure of it."

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

Charles Dante Richards
Dante
"For my allies, please, speak to me, I think it's time we came together and stand up for the souls of mortals. The goddess of death is condemning the souls of the West with extreme focus. I am sick of just taking the souls of the dying in India, slowly, in hospitals. The old folk who wish to pass on, those who are ill, while her power grows like a plague, stealing their after lives away from them. She leads an army of the dead to devour and infect the living. . . people are in grave danger. . . we must fight."

[Sakaki Chizuru]

Idiots.

This poor girl was surrounded by idiots.

Not that this was anything new to her, but Kaguya isolated herself to avoid them. Sadly, idiot number one was sitting next to her, and idiot number two could speak to her telepathically, probably. She wasn't exactly sure which god was doing this, but it did narrow down her choices. Since she couldn't exactly pin down who this person was yet, but she would surely find this person time.

Well, at least he couldn't track her down, right? Thanks to her little trick earlier, no god should be able to find another god without them telling each other. They could also run into each other by Luck, but Kaguya surely wasn't going to be granting any of their wishes any time soon. There would be no miracles coming from this NEET, not any time soon.

" So, you're asking me to interfere with the affairs of another God who has yet to do anything bad to me, topple whatever her plans are when she has yet to do any harm to me, and you expect me to do that because she is bringing back the dead? Why should I care about a few rotting meat sacks running around? How can they be denied an afterlife? Their souls have already moved on. At the moment, they're just meat doll puppets following the orders of their puppet master. If anyone is in the wrong, it is you. You are the one taking the souls of the living, and while I'm not sure what you're doing with them, I'm pretty sure they can't move on while you're in control of them. You should be the one that should be stopped, not her. "

Kaguya could care less what either of them did for now. She needed to setup some things up before she could even bother dealing with these people. Give her a few days however, and all of the gods will be bowing before her might.

Oh, right, she had to deal with The_Fiend,

Idiot, idiots everywhere.

" No no, you see, you think you do. Humans like repetition, and even if you try to change it up whenever you can, in reality, your're really just following a similar pattern over and over. Only after studying all of your games several times over did I noticed the pattern of your combos. It is why I played passive early, just to get you into a routine I recognized, and then I went on the attack.

You did play great, but it really didn't matter. There is no way to beat your natural human instincts, you just have to work around them. Being human sucks, doesn't it? "

A very bizarre question, but a question that asked a lot. Being human means many amazing things, but it also leads to many shortcomings. It is by far the most intelligent and the most idiotic species of all. And once Kaguya became the one true god, she really wouldn't change that. Humanity's stupidity is what has led it to get the point it currently is. It is a blessing, yet a curse.

Oh, one could also imply that she wasn't a human, or something. That was on accident, but oh well. Idiots don't get philosophy.

[SumikaTheBeautiful]

Relying on instincts? Of course, all humans did such. Both he and every opponent he faced did so on a regular basis. It was common sense; reacting to a a threatening action is on instinct more often than not and that was normal. 2fast was correct: being human sucked. You couldn't get around your instincts, but being able to use them to your advantage was a good thing. (Though the way she talked about humans as if she wasn't one was fairly suspicious, Daigo didn't give it very much thought as it was similar to his own philosophy, being a Savior and all.)

However, in this situation Kaguya's claims fell on unstable ears. Relying on instincts? How dare she accuse such a prolific gamer as The_Fiend of being no more than a filthy animal. Daigo seethed with suppressed rage. He refused to believe she had beaten him in any way other than cheating. And so, he decided to challenge her to a game where only the dealer could cheat.

The Fiend reached into a pocket on his bag and procured a deck of 52 cards. He shuffled them in a way to make sure it was clear he was not cheating before placing the newly-shuffled cards onto the tray table and simply proclaiming "Blackjack."

He dealt his opponent two cards, the first face-down and the second face-up as were the rules in Blackjack. Kaguya's face-up card was the Queen of Hearts. Then he did the same to himself. His face-up card? The King of Hearts. He picked up his face-down card. The Five of Diamonds. He thought over the probabilities in his head.

If he were to draw a card greater than 6, he would bust. To get a perfect 21, he would need a 6. Currently, in the deck, there were 48 cards. Ignoring his opponent's face-down card, he could calculate the remaining cards as if there were 49. Out of the 49 cards that remained, there were 14 valuing 10, and another 12 that would raise his current value above 21 resulting in a bust. All in all, that was 26/49 or about 53%. There were 4 cards remaining that could give him a perfect 21; 4/49 or about 8%. That left 19 which would leave him below the 21 threshold or about 39%.

There was over a 50% chance of him busting. Those were not good odds. However, when faced with the fact that there was over a 50% chance that his opponent had achieved a value over his 15 (4 aces + 30 (the amount of cards valuing over 5 that remained in the deck) left her with about a 69% chance), a 53% chance of failure was much lower than a 69% chance. And so, he chose to draw another card.

As he reached to the deck he found himself praying to the god of chance that he would neither bust nor receive too low a number to make a difference. Daigo caught himself doing this and mentally criticized himself for it before picking up the card and taking a look...