As the light around Kyle vanished, he found himself in a black and white building.
'Brah, am I inside a zebra? This sure is a strange design choice,' he thought.
BANG!
At that moment, Kyle's body rapidly moved forward against his will.
Kyle tried to stop his body by using the Ether around him.
'What?!'
Suddenly, Kyle's body stopped again, but once again, he had nothing to do with it.
"You're blocking the entrance," someone shouted.
Kyle looked over, and when he saw the person, his eyes widened.
Several things about this person shocked him.
First of all, and most noticeable, this wasn't even a person!
It was some kind of big bug creature that looked like a mantis.
It was about 2.5 meters tall and bipedal, but it had six arm-like appendages that all ended in different weapons.
The second thing Kyle noticed was that the Ether around this creature moved in strange patterns. For some reason, the flowing pattern didn't feel natural or biological to Kyle.
It felt kind of mechanical.
Then, Kyle noticed how much Ether this creature was absorbing.
It was… unimaginable.
Yet, the Ether was moving so little.
That was when Kyle noticed something.
The Ether in this place.
It was so dense!
So unimaginably dense!
With his Core Spark, Kyle was also absorbing a lot of Ether, but if anyone looked at him, they wouldn't even notice his Ether moving.
That was because Kyle's body could only absorb so much Ether, and the Ether around him was so dense that just a tiny drop was enough for his body.
There was one last thing that Kyle immediately noticed while looking at the strange creature.
'I wasn't scammed!' Kyle realized with relief when he saw the creature.
After all…
Would the first being he met after ascending the normal way have a True Sin Aura?
Kyle couldn't see the True Sin Aura, but he had become so familiar with it that he could feel it coming from the bug.
Yes, this bug creature had a True Sin Aura, and just like Kyle, it also suffered under the Sin Flames.
Yet, it seemed like it wasn't in any pain.
It seemed rather calm as it looked at the portal where Kyle had come from.
The portal was white and black, like the building, and some light was gathering in front of it.
The next moment, the light vanished, and Kyle saw a young woman appear.
The young woman was looking around in surprise and curiosity.
BANG!
Then, she was also flung forward, just like Kyle.
'Busy here,' Kyle thought. Kyle looked at the new woman, who, just like Kyle, looked at the bug creature first.
Then, another light shone, and a third person appeared.
'Dude, how many people are they getting?!' Kyle thought.
As Kyle looked around, he saw several more portals, which all had someone watching over them.
The beings watching over the portals came in all shapes and sizes.
There was another bug, but this one was burly.
There were quite a few humans.
There were small humans.
There were big humans.
There were blue humans.
There were-
'Furries?!' Kyle thought as he saw someone who looked like an anthropomorphized lion.
Yet, surprisingly, every single being that actually came through the portal was a normal human.
"Gather here!" Kyle heard a voice inside his head.
For some reason, Kyle's perception was pulled towards a black dot on the ground with the number 69 on it.
"Nice," Kyle said reflexively.
When Kyle said that, several people in the room glanced at him in surprise.
"Gather!" a thunderous voice echoed through Kyle's mind. The weight and power inside this voice immediately made Kyle move.
All the scattered people in the big hall gathered.
Kyle stopped on the black dot with the number 69 on it.
Everyone else almost perfectly gathered in file and rank.
'Huh, how do they know where they have to go? I mean, I know where I have to be, but- oh! They can probably not see my dot, but they can see their dot!'
Kyle's perception stretched across the hall, and he quickly counted the people around him.
'Exactly 100.'
The next moment, Kyle noticed someone appearing in front of their group.
It was a smaller, thin man with black hair.
One of his eyes had become yellow and was surrounded by scales, but compared to Horatio, this man still looked kind of normal.
"Listen up!" the man transmitted to everyone in the group. "I will be asking questions, and you will answer! If something applies to you, you will lift your hand!"
None of the newcomers dared to protest.
'I thought this would be nicer,' Kyle thought. 'This feels like the military.'
"Who's from Earth?" the man asked.
Kyle's eyes widened, and he lifted his arm.
Of the 100 people, 26 lifted their arms, which shocked Kyle.
All of the people who had lifted their arms looked at each other in shock.
'Brah, I'm not special anymore!' Kyle thought.
"Walk over there!" the man commanded, and Kyle noticed a new dot.
Everyone quickly walked to their new dots. At the same time, another man appeared, and the other 74 people followed him, leaving Kyle and the people from Earth here.
While Kyle waited, more groups were formed, and more people joined Kyle.
When they had gathered over 100 people from Earth, the man from earlier looked at them again.
"Who can consume Elements that they have an Affinity for? This often also comes with more powerful instincts," the man asked.
Kyle lifted his hand, and about 70 others also lifted their arms.
'Brah! 70% of us chose this?!' Kyle thought.
'Now, I'm really not special anymore!'
Kyle was ushered to another spot, and moments later, a woman with white hair appeared in front of them.
"You all chose the Primal Enhancement," the woman said to them. "Out of almost all the Enhancements you could have chosen, you chose the worst. It will become useless in the Fifth Realm. It is like a Transcendent's Body, but for the Fifth Realm."
"You will get an opportunity to train and become valuable, but I wouldn't get my hopes up! Only an average of five of you will survive the refinement!"
The people looked with anxiety at the woman with the white hair.
'Brah, what?' Kyle thought. 'This is nothing like what Horatio said! He said I would have freedom and shit!'
The woman looked over the new members of the Cult of Final Fate.
As her eyes landed on Kyle, she stopped.
Then, one of her eyebrows rose in interest.
The others also looked at Kyle.
Why was she focusing on him?
"Are you a victim of the Array of Stars?" she asked Kyle.
Kyle blinked a couple of times.
That was when he noticed something.
Yes, all the beings watching over the portals had True Sin Auras.
Yet, none of the people who had come through the portals had True Sin Auras.
Kyle was the only one.
"I think so?" Kyle asked. "I was an Enforcer Trainee, became an Overseer, and well… yeah…"
The woman nodded, indicating that she knew exactly what Kyle meant.
"You may leave through the door," she said, pointing at a big gate. "You will not be part of this group."
"Okay… sure," Kyle said.
Then, he walked away from the group and approached the big gate leading out of the hall.
'Ha! Turns out, I am still special!'
Then, he remembered how all the beings watching over the portals also had True Sin Auras.
'Well, somewhat.'
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