The Ascendance Deceiver

Goddess's Revelation

As Alayn descended the staircase, he stole a glance at three passengers seated at the end row of the train car. Previously unnoticed, they caught his attention. Among them were a man and a young girl, the latter tugging at the man's right hand.

The man had short hair and a remarkably attractive face, complemented by thin-framed glasses perched on his nose bridge. His attire, a black suit, white shirt with a bowtie, gave off an air of a university professor. The young girl beside him wore white sneakers, a black skirt, and a stylish yellow blouse, appearing to be around sixteen to seventeen years old. The man seemed to be in his early thirties or late twenties.

After stealing a glance at the three passengers, Alayn turned his attention to the boy who had suggested calling 911. Clad in a hoodie like Alayn, with blue denim jeans and white sneakers, he appeared to be a college student around sixteen, similar to the other girl.

Meanwhile, the other boy, who had scoffed, was not in proximity. Instead, he stood near the man who had spoken up first in the train car, wearing a red T-shirt and blue denim jeans. As Alayn caught up with the boy in the black hoodie, he quickened his pace to approach him.

Suddenly, Alayn deliberately stomped his right foot on his left, intentionally untying his right shoelace. With an awkward smile, he approached the boy and asked in a low voice, "Hey, sorry to bother you, but can you hold my phone for a moment while I tie my shoelace? Haha, I just stomped on my own foot." Alayn's smile remained, albeit slightly forced.

The boy responded, "Ah? Yeah, sure." Alayne handed over his phone to the boy, stopped, crouched down, and began tying his shoelace. As he did so, the other passengers, who had been walking with him, halted and looked at him.

"You guys go ahead. We'll catch up," Alayn said, maintaining his awkward smile. The man in his thirties nodded in agreement, leading the others down the staircase while Alayn and the boy remained behind.

After finishing tying his shoelace, Alayn stood up and retrieved his phone from the boy. "Thanks, man," he said. The boy responded, "No problem." Alayn suggested, "Let's keep going. I wonder where this staircase leads." The boy quietly agreed, and they resumed their descent, trailing a few steps behind the other passengers. As they descended, Alayn decided to break the silence and asked the boy, "Are you two friends?"

The boy seemed puzzled. "Who?" he asked.

"The guy in the red T-shirt and you," Alayn clarified.

"Oh, yes," the boy replied, absentmindedly touching his ear with his right hand.

Alayn fell silent, studying the boy's face for a few seconds. "I mean, he often makes fun of me, but I suppose friends do that," the boy added.

"Yeah, that's true. I don't have many friends, but even the few I have sometimes tease me. I guess it's normal, as you said, but it still hurts at times to have your only friends look down on you," Alayn admitted, gazing at the back of the boy in the red T-shirt.

The boy's face softened. "Ah, I'm sorry. We don't even know each other, and I started asking personal questions out of nowhere," Alayn suddenly realized, turning to the boy and offering an apology.

"Haha, no worries. It's good to find someone here who's similar to me, in this god-knows-where place," the boy responded, glancing at Alayn and then turning his eyes back to the other passengers.

Yeah, similar

"By the way, my name is Alayn," he introduced himself.

"I'm Neo. Nice to meet you, brother Alayn," the boy replied.

"Well, that was easier than I thought," Alayn inwardly remarked.

Both fell silent as they increased their pace and caught up with the other passengers after a few seconds.

Seconds turned into minutes.

After several minutes of descending the staircase, which seemed to take around two to three minutes, the group finally came to a stop in front of another door. However, this door appeared far from ordinary. It towered above them, seemingly designed for giants.

As they stood before the golden door, silence engulfed them, and no one dared to make a sound or approach the majestic entrance. Breaking the stillness, the man in his thirties took the initiative and quietly advanced toward the door. Suddenly, a blinding golden light radiated from the door, and with an indescribable sound, it swung open. Alayn's vision was overwhelmed by the luminous glow, and once again, he felt his consciousness fade into the void.

When he opened his eyes, Alayn found himself in a massive round hall, filled with thousands of seats. At the center of the grand auditorium stood a colossal white platform resembling a stage, upon which stood a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Half of her face was veiled, and she wore baby pink garments with an ancient allure. Her long, cascading blond hair added to her majestic and timeless appearance, as if she were a true goddess.

As Alayn shifted his gaze away from the woman, he realized he was sitting in an incredibly comfortable red seat. Beside him sat the other seven passengers he had grown familiar with. Alayn occupied the left corner of the row, with Neo on his right, followed by the boy in red T-shirt, the girl accompanying the professor-like man, the professor himself, the woman in the blue dress, and the other remaining passenger. On his left, there was a small gap before another row of seven seats. Countless rows extended throughout the entire auditorium, teeming with tens of thousands of people. Alayn couldn't comprehend how such a sight was possible, nor how he was able to witness the divine woman on the monumental platform. Yet, he refrained from delving too deeply into these thoughts. After all, everything that had happened thus far defied any semblance of normality.

One thing became certain: they had not shared the same dream simultaneously, and the void beyond the window appeared to be genuine. Somehow, they had been transported to another world. Lost in his thoughts, Alayn recalled the anime and light novels he had once watched and read. "Hah... I never even got to see the end of the Cote LN series," he inwardly sighed.

"It seems we've been teleported to another place again," Neo remarked, his gaze fixed on the podium at the center of the auditorium. "No shit, Sherlock. It couldn't be more obvious," replied Neo's self-proclaimed friend.

"You really enjoy taunting your friend, don't you?" Alayn asked the boy next to Neo.

"What's your problem? And 'friend'? This twerp? Yeah, right. I'm his best friend," said the teenager with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"You two, is it really a time to fight? Are you guys that okay with this situation we are in?" said the man who looked like a university or college professor.

"Sorry, Mr. Luvern," said the two boys at the same time.

So his name is Luvern huh? Good to know.

"Attention, everyone. I know you humans have, like, sooooo many questions to ask. But oh well, I don't think I would answer even a single one of those because we will give you a way to get the answers you want. Anyways, first things first. I will at least tell you guys what you have to do. Ahem, again, welcome to Kodoku. So basically, this is like a game. The only thing you have to do here is... You just have to kill each other," the woman on the stage said with a somewhat excited and sweet voice. The whole auditorium hall immersed in deep silence. There seemed to be a restriction on the hearing of the people there, but even without it, the silence would have been obvious.

"K-kill? We have to kill one another?" Neo asked with a trembling voice. The first one he looked at was Alayn. Then he proceeded to look at the people beside him and the other participants.

"Kill? We have to kill each other? Isn't this like a battle royale? But I don't think I have enough strength to even beat that teenager in a fight. Forget about killing the other people," Alayn exclaimed inwardly.

"Now, now, now, I'm not finished explaining. It's true that you have to kill each other. But guess what? We are gonna give you superpowers! How cool is that! Also, these superpowers will differ from one to another, and remember that only the creator knows what power is better than another. Well, I would say that the power of life is better than other powers out there," she said.

As she said that, she suddenly began to tremble and fell to the ground, blood seeping out from her ears, nose, and mouth. It seemed like her eyes were also bleeding. A pool of blood appeared under her head within a few seconds.

"What the fuck?" The whole auditorium seemed surprised by the scene that happened on the stage.

Suddenly, the woman stood up, wiped the blood from her face using a handkerchief she seemed to have taken out from the void, and said with a smile, "Oh, c'mon. Chill, Pantheons. I'm an angel you know. Cut me some slack please. I won't do that again. Sowwy~" She said while looking up.

"What the hell was that?"