6 Chapter 6 : Arthur and the Hyena of the No Man's Land

The God of War hissed when he saw the notification "I didn't expect it to be this interesting."

Maalick didn't understand why "Isn't there a problem instead? All the skills are hidden"

Mars explained "That's normal. Entities can know in advance what the skills of their candidates are. The Designer thought it would be easier, because if the candidates' skills were not good enough, we could have redesigned the Armada differently'

[ When all the clauses are met, the candidate will have to sign according to the Entity's custom, if they find that the skills [??? ] are good for the candidate ]

"So... what do I have to do to sign?"

The child of Zeus told his past to help him understand "Before, I wasn't just the God of War. Like all Gods, I have other roles, and one of them was being the Oath Keeper"

Maalick could see where he was going with this "Do I have to pledge allegiance to you or something like that?"

"Oh no, we haven't done that kind of thing in a very long time. All you have to do is shake my hand and say 'I swear on the River of the Styx that I will be loyal to Ares'"

The Olympian held out his hand to Maalick. The young man repeated the words seriously, and shook his hand covered with cuts "I swear on the River of the Styx that I will be loyal to Ares"

Suddenly, a new notification appeared between them. But the letters were white and the background was orange, unlike the blue and white of the beginning.

[ Armada : Blessed by War ]

[ The Greek God of War gave you his blessing to defeat the people of the cruel world of Lockarte, because the world desperately needs a hero ]

The words of the notice caught Maalick's curiosity " Can I know why it is called a 'cruel world'?" he asked to Mars, while pointing the notification.

Mars' face darkened. He avoided her look and bit his lower lip, as if he couldn't share top secret information. But his lips gave away. He revealed to him what would get them into trouble.

"If I can tell you one thing. It's to not trust humans"

[ Violation of the General Condition of Use, paragraph σ ]

[ Calculation of the penalty for the candidate Maalick Gamble, in progress ]

[ Penalty : The candidate will not have access to his Armada for one whole day ]

[ As the first penalty in the game, the candidate and The Entity will be unable to communicate back and forth for that period of time ]

[ In addition, he will be sent a week later to Lockarte. After the last candidate ]

All the notifications of the system were in front of Maalick. The information entered him, but he couldn't react.

Suddenly, he felt his hand vanish. He lowered his head, to find out that his entire body was disintegrating.

Maalick tried to speak, but he could not. The infection had reached his mouth. He shouted with his mind 'MARS!' until there was nothing left of him.

"You really couldn't help it, isn't it ?" asked a voice above him.

Mars raised his head and saw the Designer, with an expression that displayed his virtual satisfied smile ^_^ "Was it this hard to keep your mouth shut? Nah, because you're broke the rules that you signed up for. On top of that, you're playing tough by threatening him to not to make a contract with you. But you're protecting him by breaking the General Conditions of Use"

The weapons in the training room vibrated "I know very well that life is unfair. But sending them to this place is pure madness! How can this be fun?"

The Designer replied with an expression tired of hearing this kind of question -_- "Madness, fun, morality. In the end, it all depends on who wins. And don't forget you're here as a substitute, Mars"

"I'm not a fucking substitute. I was forced to play in this insane war"

"I don't give a shit about what you think. But what's interesting though is your little team. You and Maalick Gamble. A God who has given up his duties and a candidate at the crossroads of violence and justice. It sounds like it could be very exciting"

Mars was surprised by the information he had "You know?!"

If the Designer could sigh, he would have done so "I know a lot of things on a lot of people, God of War"

With that, a portal opened behind him and he stepped into it.

***

Maalick woke up by gently opening his eyelids, on a cold metal plate 'Why the fuck does transmigration have to hurt so much?'

Still confused by this transfer, he got up. The candidate recalled the recent events "Mars must have cheated by revealing this information to me. But why did he tell me not to do it? I'm one of them though'

Maalick's headache persisted. He put his hand on his skull, but he touched something other than his human skin. He felt scales covering his entire body. He raised his hand slowly, and saw claws.

'What the hell?!'

Maalick apprehensively walked over to the metal floor to see his own reflection.

His face was no longer human. It had green scales, its reptilian eyes were a sharp yellow as if they were looking directly into your soul.

He stepped back, shaking from the monstrosity of his body.

Maalick was thin and muscular at the same time. His green scales gave him a sort of natural armor and as he looked at his hand, his claws were still there.

But the worst part, he felt it behind him. The former human turned around to see a 4 foot long varan tail attached to him.

'A-A tail?!'

To calm himself, he did some breathing exercises like the SAS had taught him. He took three long and deep breaths.

With a clearer mind, he began to analyze his potentially dangerous environment 'Ok Maalick, let's take stock of the situation. I'm in a barely lit metal box. I have some kind of rags that serve as clothes and...'

That silence. A deafening silence haunted this place. He felt that if he made even a slight noise, he would be slit by death.

Suddenly, thousands of unknown smells reached his nostrils. Such an olfactory overload made him puke without restraint.

"What the fuck is this?" he said out loud.

He heard a distant voice humming "Looks like they didn't understand when we told them to shut up"

She hummed a sort of national anthem, after finishing her improvised song. Her footsteps were accompanied by other footsteps, which increased as they got closer.

Maalick had just understood something very important about his body and his environment: 'This body has sharp senses, but that's not the most important thing. This silence was forced, which means that..."

'That I'm going to have fun' said a female voice in his head.

This surprised Maalick, but what was most surprising was that he was slammed against the back wall by an invisible force. He tried to escape, but he couldn't.

The door opened to reveal several people.

The first one was a thin, small white woman in her thirties with blonde hair and purple eyes, armed with a whip.

She was wearing a military uniform made of black and white. On the upper right side of her clothing there was a calligraphic M. And next to it she wore a star-shaped medal with red and black stripes.

The second person was a six-foot tall man in his early twenties. His black hair was slicked back and his strand was falling down, which gave him the style of a young man beaten down by life.

He had brown eyes and a hardened look, filled with anger.

Maalick knew it was filled with this emotion because he had the same look when he saw the footage of Happy Face.

He wore the same military uniform and also had some sort of badge, showing the letters IE in metal with a sword and arrow crossing at the bottom, and another name underneath, Delta.

The soldiers with them looked like exactly as this man.

"A superior and his subordinate" Maalick determined.

The lady approached Maalick with a smile. Except it wasn't a smile like Anastasia's or Margaret's.

It was a smile filled with malice, madness and pure immorality.

She stopped in front of him and detached her whip "Subraces like yours are not allowed to speak to us, human"

A bubbling pink glow emanated from her. Her whip remained suspended as it was covered in the color.

'Don't tell me she's going to...'

The blonde made some movement with her wrist and began to whip Maalick.

[ PV: 6/7 ]

At first he closed his eyes and screamed in pain. But the SAS agent held back. The tortured one put all his pain deep inside him 'It hurts like hell. But I have to do the same thing that I did during the Tactical Questioning'

Maalick opened his eyes again and stared at his torturer who was taking great pleasure in doing that to him.

He looked at her with his yellow eyes with a look full of adversity, resistance and rebellion.

The soldier released her hold on Maalick who fell on the ground on his knees.

The front of his body was covered with whiplash that had managed to reach his muscles and his green blood was starting to flow.

She clutched his cheeks and raised his head "I Maria Dernia, the Hyena of No Man's Land, ask you who are the winners"

Maalick answered the only thing he had been taught to answer in this kind of situation. Other than his name, rank, military number and date of birth.

"I'm sorry, but... I can't answer that question"

Maria went into such a rage that you wouldn't have thought that the vein on her forehead would explode " Filthy lizards like you deserve to be taught a lesson about the new order"

She made a vertical kick in Maalick's mouth and sent a rush of whiplash across his back.

[ PV : 5/7 ]

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His blood had repainted the walls of the room, his back was covered with whip marks and his lower jaw was completely fractured.

The Hyena of the No Man's Land was feeling an excitement close to a sexual act " Nothing is better than torturing a filthy lizard to release the pressure"

But the young man warned her "Captain, we have to go. We have many other arrangements to complete"

Her breathing was still shaky from the adrenaline "Yes... you're right Arthur"

They both left and closed the door. Leaving Maalick alone, on the verge of death.

[ Regeneration activated ]