Chapter 2: The Arena

When Lucent arrived at the Sixth's ring arena, he was left in awe. No matter how many times he had seen it in the past it still took his breath away. The Arena was a total reimagining of the Roman Colosseum and its grandeur. Golden statues lined its arches, it stood a hundred meters tall. Its exterior was made out of one single slab of marble as well as the interior. The entire city itself is made up mostly of marble, making it glow bright against the sunlight. The Colosseum can seat up to a hundred thousand spectators. To not make it look so empty, Lucent placed golems resembling people as spectators to fill the arena, there were empty seats left for the actual spectators—his in-game friends. Thinking back, he felt sadness for the life that he had, he was worried for his family, and deep down he wished that this was all a dream, a really vivid dream. But he is slowly accepting that it might not be, and the thought of that frightens him.

When he entered, the golems started to roar in deafening cheers and thunderous applause that startled him.

"SILENCE!" He commanded in a loud booming voice, amplified by the spell [Chieftain's Cry]. As if the golems were playing a game of stop-dance they all froze mid-clap, mid-shout, mid-everything. Silence falls once more in the arena,

He looked around to find the Sixth Ring, Romon. He is a level 100 NPC demon who looks like a priest. Although Keith named his city Heaven, it is anything but. All the denizens of the sky empire are all evilly aligned. Keith liked the gap-moe trope and applied it to most of his creations and that includes Romon. What is more frightening than a person of faith whom you confide in and ask for salvation only to turn out to be the devil himself?

A shadowy figure stood up from one of the VIP sections at the top of the arena only to jump at such a height and landed in front of Lucent with a loud thud and walked off as if it were nothing. There he stood in the light, Romon. He has a skinny build and an inviting smile, a smile that you want to let your guard down. Romon has light blond hair that reflects the sun light making him look like a saint. He has a pretty face but his eyes are white in color making it look like he was blind. He is wearing a priest's outfit embroidered with golden threads.

"Greetings to you oh Holiness," Romon said while prostrating himself. "What brings you today and visit this humble servant of yours?"

"Rise Romon," Lucent said in a deep voice. "I asked Opeter to gather all the Seven Ring Guardians of Heaven to talk to them. They will be here in 30 minutes."

"Why haven't you sent word that you were coming your Holiness, I could have prepared the coliseum and the sixth ring for your arrival."

"I didn't need to; I know that you have done your job of maintaining the sixth ring well"

With Lucent's words, Romon smiled gleefully. He had done his duties as he should for the Holiness but hearing those words made his dark heart flutter. Romon was still hesitant if his Holiness had forgiven him for his past transgression. In the past, there was an unforgettable raid that was composed of hundreds of players and was able to get through the five Rings of Heaven. When it was his time to defend his area, he was bested. The players were able to reach the seventh Ring before they were ultimately stopped and were defeated by His Holiness with the help of Opeter and the seventh Ring Guardian Gabriel. Still to this day, he has chastised himself for not being able to stop their advancement.

"I am also here to test something."

Lucent said. With his scythe at the ready, he summoned a great earth elemental beast. The highest of its kind.

"[Summon: Great Earth Elemental Dragon]". Dust swirled at the center of the arena, creating a massive sand tornado. When the dust settled, a gigantic earth dragon appeared, roaring in anger as if awoken from its slumber. 'Aside from casting spells I can still summon creatures, that's a relief to know.' Keith thought to himself.

The Earth elemental dragon is a colossal and imposing creature, covered in scales that mimic the rugged textures of mountainous terrain. Its color palette ranges from earthen browns to mossy greens, seamlessly blending into its natural surroundings. Massive wings, reminiscent of sturdy rock formations, allow it to soar majestically through the skies before landing in the center of the arena. This dragon possesses the power to manipulate the very elements of the earth, controlling rocks, soil, and seismic forces. With eyes that reflect ancient wisdom, the Earth elemental dragon exudes an aura of grounded power and a deep connection to the primal forces of the planet.

"Romon,"

"Yes, your Holiness?"

"Are you able to defeat that?" Lucent asked. Although it's a silly question, Romon could easily beat a level 95 elemental dragon, he just wants to find out if the power system and level are still the same in this new world.

"Yes, Your Holiness," Romon said without any hesitation.

"Then go at it," Lucent said with a slight glint in his eyes.

"As you wish your Holiness." A determined expression on Romon's face. The moment His Holiness Lucent Morningstar summoned an earth elemental dragon, Romon knew what was going on. 'So, this is how I atone for my sins.' He thought, chuckling to himself. The earth element was his weakness and was the reason he was bested when the players siege the sky empire. "I shall not fail you again your Holiness!"

'Fail me? What is he talking about?' Keith is perplexed inwardly. 'Best not give away that I have zero clue what he is on about.' He thought to himself.

Romon did a gripping motion with his hands and a silver serrated whip appeared. He then leaped forward to do battle with the beast. As Roman fought, Lucent observed the battle. As expected, Romon was struggling at first against the earth dragon's attacks but soon found his rhythm and won easily.

The gap between levels is so high that players won't fight other players even if they are only a level higher than them. A level 1 player with the best gear can't win against a level 2 player with substantial equipment. The reason for this is that it takes a very long time to level up a player's character, more than an NPC. To prevent players from creating much higher-level NPCs than the players' actual level, the Devs made a level requirement to create stronger NPCs, so a level 45 player can't make a level 46 NPC without being a level 46 themselves.

When the battle was done, Romon stride towards Lucent with a gleeful smile on his face. He didn't even break into a sweat, not that he could. When Roman reached his master, he knelt and bowed his head.

"I have finished the task, your Holiness," Romon said still smiling.

"Well done, Romon," Lucent said. "As a reward, you can ask me anything you desire, anything that I can do," Lucent said with his deep voice.

"I possibly cannot accept such a magnificent gift, your Holiness, your presence alone is enough—"

"Stop with your jest, I insist," Lucent said cutting off Romon's ramblings.

"But I ca-… As you wish you Holiness. Although I am not sure what I want, I'll inform you when I have an idea." Roman said reaching a compromise.

"Very well, for the meantime have some water, I'm sure you must be parched from all that fighting." He said deepening his voice.

Lucent then grabbed a pitcher full of cold water from his inventory and handed it over to Roman who gratefully accepted it before pulling a crystal glass to pour the water in. Roman was not sure why His Holiness was actively trying to deepen his voice from his usual voice, but he didn't question it, there must be a reason to it that only the supreme being that is His Holiness is privy to. A moment passed and the ring guardians started to come one by one.

The first to arrive was a progenitor vampire called Vlad the Impaler, the first ring's guardian. The first ring is comprised of two minor rings and the main ring, you could say that Vlad has dominion over three rings. Vlad is a handsome man with long silky black hair, and pale skin as white as snow. Eyes glow red beneath a red monocle, emanating pure power. He has elf-like ears and wears gothic Victorian-style clothes, complete with a snake-like golden cane in his hand.

The next to arrive were Adam and Lilith, the third and fourth ring's Guardians respectively. Adam, same as Lilith and the rest of the Ring Guardians are level 100 NPCs. Adam had sandy blond hair and sky-blue eyes, he wore silver armor from head to toe, resembling that of a lion. If Opter was well built, Adam is a behemoth of a man towering over everyone even Lucent. Although Keith/Lucent wants everyone to look up to him, he made exemptions with Adam and Atlas—the second ring guardian. Adam is the leader of the imperial guards and is tasked to keep peace and order in the city, although when times of a siege happens, he relinquishes his duties to Opeter as he is the overseer of the entire city.

Lilith, is a succubus, a kind of demon who feeds on the sexual life energy of mortals. She is wearing a wedding dress all in white, embellished by pearls, and made out of silver threads making the dress glow in the sun's light. She has a lace vale covering her entire face up to her bust, the lace vale then runs through her entire back into a long majestic train. She holds a similarly majestic bouquet of white flowers of variety. She is aethereal to look at. No man could ever resist her beauty underneath the vale, and no woman dead or alive could compare to her either. But underneath the beauty lays a horrifying monster. She can spawn all of the demon kind into existence, hordes of demons are under her command.

The next one to arrive is Om, the fifth ring's guardian. He is an angel with four heads. One is of a man, then a lion, an eagle, and an ox. His body is a combination of the four. He has the torso of a man, his arms are the feet of an eagle with sharp talons, his lower half is that of an Ox, and he has the tail of a lion. Lucent doesn't know if it's a he or a she or heck maybe even a they, but since his upper part is a man, he settled for 'he' instead.

The last to arrive was Opeter ,Atlas and Gabriel. Atlas is a gigantic golem that stands up to 60 meters tall. He is so big that he even has an entire forest on his back and a waterfall that runs through his chest. He has a castle tower for a weapon, able to smash its opponents with ease.

Gabriel is an archangel, a kind of warrior angel that protects Heaven and all it's denizens. He has short blonde hair swept back similar to Opeter, actually they look alike. Opeter and Gabriel are twins as Lucent remembering their lore that he wrote for them. Gabriel is wearing and armor similar to Adam's only that his armor looks more like an eagle rather than a lion, it is also made out of gold unlike Adam's silver.

Lucent cast the spell [Holy Body of Light] once again, making him glow in holy light.

"Now that all of you are here, it is time…"