Soul Burn

Levon did exactly as I expected. As I shot towards him in the midst of my sword energy, he threw one of his daggers at me to counter the attack. As the dagger approached, I let go of the pull from my telekinesis and used it a second time to throw myself to the left. I tumbled to the ground, rolling to a stop.

I looked up just in time to see the dagger impact against the sword energy that I left behind. It cut through and flew another twenty meters, slashing violently into dozens of trees in its path. I couldn't help but wonder if I could have withstood that attack with the combined strength of my sword energy and my body working as one there.

I turned to Levon and set up another defensive stance. "That's three down, three to go. Do you think you can get me before I exhaust your trump card?"

Levon laughed. "You think this is my trump card? The God of Slaughter gave me something special right before the server notification went off. It looks like he really wants me to kill you."

Shit, this isn't going to end well. The God of Slaughter knew my location because he's an observer. This wasn't fair; he's not supposed to be contracting with players yet until after season one, but I guess he does have privileges beyond other sponsors.

My options right now are fairly limited. "Pretty sad that you can't face me with your own strength. You have to borrow from your shitty sponsor to defend yourself."

Levon's smile grew wider. "You think that this isn't my power? The God of Slaughter gave me this strength, sure. But that's because I can use it better than others. Who cares where I got it from? The fact is that I have access to it now."

Levon's body began to glow with a sickly black energy, something I did not recognize. "Shit."

He disappeared from my field of view in a flash, reappearing to my left. My mind stat was just high enough to allow me to track his movements, and my agility was just high enough to match his speed, but there was something abnormal about Levon's movements.

I brought my sword up just in time to parry an attack made by him, but the blow was so heavy that it threw me back five feet. I left a sizable trench in the ground where I tried to hold my ground against the blow. I was shocked at the amount of force that was used to drive me back, as it was enough to leave my arms shaking.

I looked up and saw that Levon did not even use his daggers, but the empty fist that he expended three daggers from already. "Hey, you're not Levon, are you?"

The smile grew wider. "Oh… How could you tell?"

The voice was deeper and more raspy. I finally recognized the ability that was being used. The God of Slaughter granted Levon a skill called Soul Burn. It allows him to possess the body of a player, but the host's soul is burning in the process. In exchange for some of the user's life force, a sponsor can directly interact with the world.

"You fucker, there's no way the system should allow this in the first season!" There was no way out; if the God of Slaughter was here possessing Levon, then it was over for me. His stats were the same, but being possessed by a sponsor meant that Levon's body had access to all of the sponsor's skills. This particular sponsor was one whose skills I had never seen in any of the seasons. I was fighting blind.

"You interest me, Ronan Wilde. I'll give you one chance here. I want you." The God of Slaughter took a few steps towards me. The ground beneath him decayed with every step, adding to the buildup of fear in my body.

I took a few steps back as he approached. "Elaborate for me. I don't want to give myself to someone who has just sent one of their dogs to bite me."

He continued to take steps toward me. "Oh, please, it was a simple test. I wanted to see how strong you were. You impress me, Ronan. You seem to be far more prepared for these games than anyone else of your race. You're leagues above them. On the off chance that humans win the first season, I need to be your sponsor." He smiled.

I looked over to see how Punisher was doing while the God of Slaughter talked. I caught a glimpse of him rolling out of the way of an attack and firing a shot through the head of one of the pursuing Alorae. He seemed to be doing just fine, as I counted five dead bodies around him. Fuck, I was so proud of him right now.

My best option was to stall. The longer he talked, the more Levon's soul would burn up. If I could keep him talking for another minute, the host's soul would be so weak that the God of Slaughter would have to leave the body, and I might have a chance at killing Levon. "What happens if I say no?"

"If you say no, then I kill you and make sure that your people do not make it past the first season. I'll invest all of my strength in your enemies to make sure of that."

I remembered the mess that the God of Slaughter made in the first season. He was second only to the God of Plague, who sponsored Doctor Victor Trauss, when it came to the amount of death that swept across the Verdant Abyss in my last life.

I bit my lip. "Okay, and what benefits do I get if I accept you as my sponsor?"

"Then I give you the same deal I gave Levon. You seem to know that all my skills revolve around allowing you to use power one tier above what you are normally capable of. I only ask that you kill when I tell you to; that is all I want."

"Can you give me time to think about the deal?"

His smile faded. "I'll give you time. Just say yes before I kill you; that should be enough time."

Levon extended his hand, and a bolt of black energy shot towards it from the sky. I watched as a black spear started to form from the energy.

"Fuck it…" I dashed toward him. I was going to get at least one good hit in; I'm not an idiot who'd just let the God of Slaughter power up without taking a free shot at him.