Eric cursed and unleashed another wave of concentrated mana at the hut in the distance. Just like the times before, his attack that would normally uproot trees and demolish buildings did nothing other than ruffle the damned structure’s shingles. He was supposed to be all-powerful! He was the chosen one, yet why was there something that he couldn’t destroy?

  [You have only just begun to assimilate my Powers, little Aspirant. Do not think that you are all-powerful.]

  Eric sent another wave of energy out, but this time a poor unfortunate soul - a useless no-named noncombatant - was caught up in the blast. Half the idiot’s body was torn right off, and Eric cursed again after seeing how slow the fool had been. If only he had better pawns under his command! How could he lose more than half his forces from some fucked up hill-billy creature?

  “Eric, please…” another worthless degenerate pleaded. “We’re down to 10 members, we can’t-”

  Another wave of his hand shut the other Aspirant up, permanently. “And now we have 9. Would anyone like to make that 8?”

  No one spoke, not as if half of the remaining forces could given their various states of injury. Why were all of his plans going south? The Book of Thoth said nothing about this cursed location, and it had taken almost all of his energy to drive back that deranged mutant. Why had his God been so-

  A wave of agony, worse than anything he had ever felt before, jolted through Eric’s system, causing him to stumble as his muscles locked up in rictus. The undiluted heat of rage rolled through his head, followed by an even greater pain that resonated with his very soul. Eric only remained on his feet because he could not move, but every second spent felt like an eternity.

  [Silence! It seems that you do not understand your own place in life, Aspirant Eric. It is only through my good graces that you still live, but make no mistake, I own you, and I can end your existence just as easily as I can elevate it.]

  I- I understand… my god.

  The pain eased but didn’t let up completely. Eric understood that it was his penance for doubting his god’s abilities, and for the first time since he gave himself up to his Sponsor, he understood just what kind of deal he had consigned to.

  [But your worries are not without warrant, little slave.]

  And there was that word that Eric dreaded, even if he had suspected that it was what he was all along. But what else could he have done? Eric shook his head; if he hadn’t accepted his god’s help, then he would have simply died, and although he had lost his freedom, he had still retained his life. A small part of his mind started to rationalize his lot in life, and maybe it wasn’t so bad serving the will of another for the rest of his existence…

  [The fact that you were blindsided even with me by your side can only indicate one thing: there is another god at play here.]

  Is… is that an issue, Lord Thoth? Is it the being that is sealed here?

  [No, it is not. I do not sense that being here, not awake at least. It can only mean that your singular foe has accepted a Sponsorship as well. That would explain its tenacity in surviving for as long as it had.]

  Eric nodded. That would make sense, he had wondered how his sole opponent had survived by themselves for so long, and although there were advantages in traveling alone, especially if they had some kind of stealth ability, Eric had personally experienced the dangers of this fucked up Trial. A solo Aspirant could only go so far without outside help, but if that same Aspirant had the help of a god? Things fell into place if Eric thought of it that way. It was likely that he or she had been responsible for sabotaging some of his endeavors.

  Do you know, Lord Thoth, who the identity of the other Aspirant’s Patron is?

  [The machinations of the divine are unknown even to me, for they are my peers, but that does not mean that I do not have my guesses. Most likely your foe is Sponsored by a trickster god, a minor being that can but only play pranks on the weak. The fact that the opposition had not made a direct move by now all but confirms this hypothesis.]

  Eric nodded again, agreeing with his master’s assumptions. If his enemy had the same might that he had now, then he could have crushed Eric’s entire group with ease. No, instead, this unknown Aspirant had placed traps within their forces to cause havoc. Eric was almost certain that the initial losses in number with the pearls were due to some kind of sabotage on the enemy’s hands, and maybe they had also lured that damned skinwalker on his group as well. It would explain a lot of inconsistencies that he had faced so far if another god was at play.

  What would you have me do, my god?

  [Tricks mean nothing in the face of overwhelming force. We have already lost much in this Trial, and it would be a fallacy to invest more in a dying cause. Find the foe and finish this Trial as soon as you can. Ignore all else. While I may not be able to find the Aspirant directly, the Trial forces its participants to the ceremony grounds, and it will be there that you will find your foe.]

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Eric grimaced at the thought of losing out on the additional awards for a poor completion score, but he had no choice in the matter. The Aspirant could only agree to the demands of his master.

  It shall be done.

  Eric shook the last of the torment from his system and addressed his remaining followers once more. They were battered and beaten and now that most of the noncombatants had died, they were running desperately low on supplies, but that mattered little to him. Now that his god had instructed him to finish this Trial, Eric needn't care about the lives of the others any longer.

  “Forget about this place,” Eric shouted, “We have wasted enough time here already.”

  “Bu-” someone said, their voice wavering under the intense pressure that Eric exuded. The speaker knew full well that their leader was in a foul mood, yet he chose to word his worthless complaints anyway. “But there’s still a group in the hut. They’re still alive, if we wait-”

  Another show of force stopped the idiot from speaking further, for he no longer had a head to speak from. However, what he said was true, in a sense. There were still 16 individuals left on the System’s counter, even though only seven remained with Eric now. Not that it mattered, of course. The lives of those 3 in the hut and the others who went with the traitor would matter little with the new power coursing through his veins.

  Anger filled Eric’s mind as he recalled the damned scum who left him. His body still felt the torments of his earlier transgressions, and he feared that his god would never take this pain away. They were the ones who caused all of this to happen, they were the ones who were responsible for his loss of autonomy. If they survived this encounter, then Eric swore that he would make their lives a living Hell once they were back in the Main Stage. He took solace in that thought. If he had to suffer, then he would drag every other Aspirant down with him.

  “We leave now,” Eric repeated, and this time, no one had the gall to disagree.

  Good, these same men and women who would nag and complain about everything he said before were now demure and silent. Eric shouldn’t have bothered with diplomacy before, this wasn’t the Earth that he grew up in. Here, the only thing that mattered was absolute strength, and he had that now, even if it had cost him his freedom. Perhaps being the slave of a god wasn’t so bad after all, he mused. At least he could lord over the others as he saw fit.

  The battered and bruised Aspirants marched toward the ritual grounds, but they didn’t arrive there unscathed. Two more had succumbed to their injuries and the grueling pace that Eric forced, their bodies simply couldn’t keep up with the rest of the people. Eric had decimated any creatures that came to ambush them from the front, that much was true, but he cared little about the rear, and that was where the casualties came from. The man didn’t even bother looking back even as the others screamed and begged for help.

  Instead, Eric forced the sounds of out his mind and consulted the Book of Thoth one more time. True to his god’s words, the Book contained no information about his opposition, it spoke of every caveat of the so-called “ceremony” that would be taking place in a few hours' time. The Aspirant disregarded all the worthless parts about why the thing was conducted or who was participating, and quickly found the information that he cared for: how to destroy it.

  According to the information he had, there were a few methods to do so. The key component of the ritual itself, and the only part that really mattered, was the sacrifice at the end. Various villagers would play key roles in the event, ranging from simple spectators to voodoo priests and religious leaders, and better yet, the Book told Eric who was responsible for each segment of the ceremony. Most importantly, however, was still the sacrifice at the apex of the ceremony. Without that, everything else would fail.

  Who, or more likely, who that sacrifice was, Eric didn’t know, nor did his Book say, but the Aspirant supposed that it made sense. Whatever ceremony was being conducted was dedicated to the villager’s messed up god, and even an evil deity would still be a deity after all; his own god could not peer into the veil of his peers. If he disrupts this critical portion of the ceremony, then the entire thing would fail, but Eric didn’t choose this approach. No, there was a much easier method. He would simply kill all the participants.

  But first, he would bait out the other Aspirant. The Book of Thoth stated that the trials and their missions were symmetrical in nature, which means that the slippery bastard on the other side would have to make a move on the ritual grounds. Lord Thoth might not be able to glean that individual’s identity or location, but that doesn’t mean that Eric was completely lost. He would wait until the very last minute before the mission’s deadline, thus forcing the other individual to move first. Plus, even if things went south, Eric was certain that he could endure the consequences of failing such a crucial mission longer than his opposition; he had already given up on trying to achieve a decent rank for this Trial, what did it matter if he failed a few more missions?

  Eric had the advantage of knowing that his opponent wasn’t a fighter, and although nothing else about them was known, this was enough for now. Tricks mean nothing in the face of overwhelming force. Plus, Eric had just recently offered his soul to his Sponsor, and unless the other Aspirant had been watching his every move, they would not know about his boost in strength. He had the element of surprise on his side, and he planned to take advantage of it.

  “Go,” Eric commanded to the feeble individuals still left to him, “You saw the instructions on the mission. Go and make your worthless lives useful and disrupt the proceeds.”

  Eric had a plan. He assumed that by now, looking at how few survivors were left on his side, the enemy would start to become complacent. Even if they only had the Patronage of a weak Trickster deity, they would certainly be more than a match for half a dozen exhausted Aspirants. All Eric had to do was sit by the sidelines and wait. He was certain that the foe would expose themselves before long. Let the idiot become complacent and overconfident, then this fucking nightmare could finally be over.

  “Go!”

  Wisely, no one complained about the instructions. They knew that they had little hope of surviving a frontal assault, but a little hope was a lot better than certain death at the hands of Eric. The others had learned that lesson all too thoroughly. And thus, Eric hid in the dense underbrush and waited, certain that victory was just a few short hours away.

  Want to read ahead? Check out my Patreon!

  28 chapters ahead!