Time flied until it was time for his game. He sat on his sofa, eating ice cream and watching TV. Wrath was still doing the thing where she freezes. So there was no pre-game talk between them. She didn't offer any advice, and he didn't ask for one or inform her of his plans.
His vision flashed once in a while to inform him that it was almost time. Ten minutes later, the whiteness that flashed in his vision became permanent. Everywhere he looked was white.
He knew he had appeared in the tower of destiny. Unlike the previous nine times, he didn't have to pick the number for his game now. He had already done that. So what was waiting for him was a tunnel.
The tunnel was white and it was swirling. It was like a tear in the world twisting against the resistance of the world in order to remain open.
The tunnel grew larger as it approached him. He could enter it willingly, or he could resist, and it would expand and engulf him.
He decided to do the former. He dove into the tunnel and became disoriented. When he got his senses back, he found himself on top of a glass platform.
The platform was in the middle of a large stadium. It was a large stadium and there were thousands of people in the stands who had come to spectate the game. It was the most people he had seen since he began participating in the destiny games.
He could actually hear the spectators. They were roaring, clapping, and cheering. They were so many that he could hear the noise that they were making despite the distance between them.
The glass platform was in the middle of the stadium, but it was high up in the sky. So his position was above the spectators. Far below him was a large forest.
The forest was an urban forest. It was a city that was on its way to becoming a forest. There was a lot of greenery, but there was also a lot of cement and asphalt.
The buildings were covered in this greenery and made the forest taller than it should be. He could also see various animals walking around on the asphalt.
One thing he didn't see were incursion zombies. He also didn't see the effects of the incursion on the buildings. The buildings weren't crumbling because of collision with another world. They were just crumbling because of the stress of trees and the erosion of the roots of plants.
These things marked the hybrid forest as unnatural. The fact that the forest was always changing as he watched confirmed his suspicion.
As he watched, buildings sank into the ground only to be replaced by asphalt or what used to be a parking lot. Trees grew taller or shrank over time. No natural city or forest could do the things he was seeing.
He took his eyes off of the forest to look at his competitors. They were on the platform too. They had been spawned in such a way that they appeared at the edge of the platform to form a circle.
At the center of the platform is another raised platform. There was someone on this platform. It was a human with golden skin and golden hair. They appeared to be female by their face and length of their hair, but he couldn't be sure because they were so thin.
The golden human was sleeping. Their platform had furniture and snacks. They were sleeping on a bed that someone had placed there for her.
It appeared that this golden person had arrived here earlier than them and decided to take a nap. It was either that or the person was sleeping when they were brought here, and they didn't wake up despite the disorienting effect of the transportation.
As for him, he couldn't move or speak. He could only stare at the things around him. There was a lot to look at, though. He could identify his many competitors. They too were examining him.
The woman beside him smiled at him. She displayed her cat-like teeth to him. It was all canine. It went well with the feline eyes on her face, her whiskers, the claws on her hand, her long, hairy ear, and her even longer, fluffy tail.
She was smiling, but he could see the predatory intentions behind her smile. It was in her eyes. It was narrowed at him in naked hostility.
Eventually, the golden human opened their eyes. They yawned and spread their golden wings. Then they took to the sky and shouted, "Who is ready for a rumble?"
Their large golden robe billowed around them in turn to the loud cheering as the spectators went wild. They shouted at the top of their lungs. It filled the stadium with a lot of noise.
The competitors also became able to move. The cat lady distanced herself from him. He thought it was out of fear, but then she began sprinting at him. Apparently, she needed the distance to pick up speed so as to be able to tackle him.
He was stunned by her behavior. He found it so incomprehensible that he just stood there watching her actions. She struck him and flew right through him.
He had to ask her. "What are you doing?"
It was common knowledge that they wouldn't be able to interact with each other before the game started. And yet, here is someone who should have experienced nine games at the least.
Even if she didn't know about this rule online, she should have had some experience with it by now. But she still looked disappointed when she failed to tackle him.
She didn't answer his question. She simply huffed, shook her tail at him, and ignored him. He watched her leave to bother someone else while he shook his head in wonder.
"I read that she was crazy, so I should have seen this coming."