1 Sacrifice
Level 100 of the Lygis was left in ruins. The kingdom in which Latavius had stayed dormant, was completely destroyed after the fierce battle against the six leveled . All you could see was a ruin, the corpse of the hydra Latavius and the six injured leveled.
"LEVEL 100 BOSS OF THE LYGIS, LATAVIUS, HAS BEEN DEFEATED. CONGRATULATIONS NADEEM, LUCY, POPO, GRIFFITH, SAFFI AND ROBIN FOR BEING THE FIRST TO DEFEAT LATAVIUS. BEYOND WILL APPEAR WITHIN 30 MINUTES TO REWARD YOU ALL FOR YOUR ACHIEVEMENT."
[Popo]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Weight: 65 kg
Level: 100 rank C
Height: 5'8"
Popo, who had been unconscious before, woke up in a pool of blood. As he stood up and blood dripped from his beard, he could feel his broken ribs. He couldn't remember what happened. His head hurt too much to even try to remember. All he could smell was smoke and blood. It was gruesome to see the state the kingdom was left in. What was once considered a paradise, was completely destroyed. Popo was used to this scenery by now. He looked around to see if anything would remind him of what happened. The moment he saw Lucy and Nadeem standing next to the corpse of Latavius everything came back to him. His eyes then stayed focused on Nadeem. The anger was clearly visible in his eyes as he stared at him. The excruciating pain he felt mere moments ago was but a long forgotten whisper as he started walking up to him.
"What the fuck was with that portal? If it wasn't for Griffith saving me I would be dead by now!", said Popo with anger in his voice.
"Calm down. I know you wouldn't agree to my plan so I just went with it. Sorry, I guess, but it worked didn't it?", Nadeem said grinning innocently while scratching his head.
Nadeem, who was the leader of the group, was the type of man who acts first and thinks later. He always remained optimistic even after his dozens of near death experiences. He was the type of person who everyone naturally wanted to follow. He wasn't smart, nor all that powerful. It's just that his personality brought individuals together.
[Nadeem]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 29
Weight: 67 kg
Level: 100 rank C
Height: 5'9"
Popo punched Nadeem in the face, which made Nadeem fall to the ground.
"Fuck you! You almost got me killed and Griffith got severely injured thanks to you. How can you even call that a plan?"
"Popo calm down. Even though it was a dumb idea, it did work in the end. If he hadn't done it, we might have all been killed. None of us could've known about Latavius' third transformation", said Lucy.
Nadeem and Popo came into the Lygis together and later on met Lucy. After some gruesome battles they became a team. Everyone assumed she came from royalty by the way she acted, but she never talked about her past, so no one was sure. Lucy was the one that always made sure the team stayed together. She wasn't as optimistic as Nadeem, but she was very kind hearted and also tough when she needed to.
[Lucy]
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Weight: 58 kg
Level: 100 rank D
Height: 5'7"
"Plus Saffi is already treating Griffith's wounds."
"Do not worry, friend. My injuries are not as bad as they seem", Griffith said. He even tried to laugh, but quickly stopped due to his pain.
Griffith the Cronian. Cronians are a race of reptilians who reside in the Lygis. However, Griffith was exiled from his tribe for being born an albino, which are seen as a curse that will bring an end to the tribe. After being abandoned by his tribe a leveled rescued him and took him under his wing. Griffith then also became a leveled and went up the Lygis with his new master. He met the team right after the death of his master. Not knowing what else to do, he joined them.
[Griffith]
Race: Cronian
Gender: Male
Age: 1344
Weight: 277 kg
Level: 100 rank D
Height: 6'8"
"Tsk...fine, but I won't forget this, Nadeem", Popo hissed.
Popo was still furious with Nadeem, but he stopped arguing for Lucy's sake. He would do anything for her and everyone knew that. Popo despised Nadeem. He couldn't stand being in the same team with him. But still he remained after all those years. For her. Just to be close to her. Popo and Nadeem were best friends once. But Nadeem knew about his feelings for Lucy and still openly pursued her. The day Popo finally decided to tell Lucy how he felt about her, Nadeem and Lucy became lovers.
As Popo then walked to help Robin out, Lucy helped Nadeem up.
"Thanks for having my back there babe."
"A heads up next time wouldn't hurt Nadeem. We just got lucky."
"Yeah I won't do it again. Promise."
Griffith, still laying down on the ground, coughed while Saffi used her nanites to heal him.
"Health restoration complete in 5 minutes", Saffi said.
Saffi was an android which the team saved from Turmond the giant, who was the mythical boss of lvl 53. To show her gratitude, she vowed to help the others with the rest of their journey in the Lygis.
[Saffi]
Race: Android
Gender: Female
Age: 336
Weight: 45 kg
Level: 100 rank D
Height: 4'6"
"Thank you Saffi, but how are you doing? You took most of its attacks head on", Griffith asked.
"Self restoration complete in 5 minutes."
"Saffi, after you're done with Griffith can you heal Robin next? He took some pretty bad hits", Popo called out to Saffi while helping Robin sit up.
[Robin]
Race: Unknown
Gender: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Weight: 73kg
Level: 100 rank B
Height: 6'5"
Robin was a mystery. Not a he nor a she. Just a knight. No one knew anything about them. Robin just appeared one day and became a part of the team. No one ever questioned it. Robin never spoke and never took their armor off either. At one point the team thought Robin was a being of lower intelligence. But they soon changed their minds as Robin proved to be an amazing fighter and a trustworthy ally.
"Griffith's health restoration complete. Now beginning Robin's health restoration. Restoration complete in 10 minutes."
After everyone was fully healed and prepared they waited for Beyond and talked about their long journey together to level 100.
He appeared as if he was there the whole time. At this point nobody was shocked. Beyond liked appearing out of the blue just to scare people.
"Oh come on. It's no fun if nobody gets scared now is it?", Beyond chuckled.
Beyond. The being that created the Lygis. No one knew what he was or where he came from, but everyone knew that he was the one that single handedly defeated the gods and made them kneel to him. He had so many abilities people lost count after all of those years. He's a black figure with white eyes. Nobody ever saw him frown. He always had either a smile or a grin on his face. He loved having fun. Many assumed that he created the Lygis just for his entertainment. He always wore a onesie with a rose on his chest and white gloves. Not many dared to oppose him, but the ones that did try, got obliterated immediately. He was the one that maintained the Lygis and he always remained neutral. He only interfered if there was a threat that endangered the Lygis itself.
[Beyond]
Race: ???
Gender: ???
Age: ???
Weight: ???
Level: ???
Height: 4'11"
"Congratulations on defeating Latavius. Each of you will get different rewards as per usual."
Beyond only rewarded leveled when they were the first to clear a stage, defeat a mythical boss or impress him in any way. His rewards could be anything. Such as a wish, a legendary item or even bringing someone back from the dead. But the reward needed to have the same worth as the "work" Beyond believed they put into it.
Beyond looked around at everyone and rested his eyes on Nadeem.
"Let's start with you. Are you ready?"
After rewarding the others it finally became time to reward Popo. Beyond teleported them away and Popo then found himself in a ballroom made out of gold. In the middle of the ballroom there was a table with 2 chairs and tea. Popo admired the room at first and then took a seat.
"Now what do you wish for Popo?"
"I wish for you to truthfully answer some questions for me."
"I accept. The next 5 questions you ask I will answer truthfully."
"Wait! Why only 5?"
"You can ask me how to kill me, secrets of the Lygis or information about others. You should be grateful that I'm giving you 5 questions and not 1. Now 4 to go."
Popo hadn't thought it through enough. He forgot that it also counted as a question. Given that he only had 4 questions left, he was forced to ask the 4 most important questions.
"Now that we finished level 100. How many more levels are there?"
Popo asked this question because all throughout the Lygis, they were the first to come this far. So rumors spread out that level 100 was the last level to beat, but no one was sure about this.
"There are 10 levels left, which only consist of gods."
At the end of each level there was a boss. All bosses which were at the end of a level were legendary bosses, but when the right conditions were met, it was possible to find the mythical boss of that level. They were more difficult to defeat than the legendary bosses, but they did not allow you to proceed to the next level. Only thing they gave you was a reward from Beyond. The Lygis had already existed for over 900 years, only six mythical bosses were ever found. Out of those six only one had been defeated. All gods were considered mythical bosses.
"Will our team be able to defeat the next boss?"
"Your victory will depend on you making the right decisions."
Popo hesitated for a couple of seconds but then decided to ask his question anyway.
"Which of my teammates will die on the next level?"
"If you make the right decisions only Lucy will die.", said Beyond as his smile grew wider.
Popo felt his body turn cold. In order for the team to succeed, Lucy, the one person he loved more than life itself, would have to die.
"How do I stop the next boss from killing her?", asked Popo.
"Only by letting the others die will your beloved Lucy be saved from Poseidon", with a smile which covered almost half of his face.
Popo couldn't think straight. All the years they spent together meant nothing to him anymore. Only one thing came to mind. She must live on. Doesn't matter who had to die.
Soon after Beyond teleported them back. The others were already fully healed and were making camp right next to Latavius' corpse. Popo decided to keep his reward a secret from the others.
"Hey Beyond can you revive it already. It's starting to rot", said Nadeem while holding his nose to keep the stench out.
"Almost forgot."
As if it were nothing he brought Latavius back to life. Turned the kingdom back to its original state as if nothing happened in the first place. Everyone understood it had to be done for the next leveled entering lvl 100, but everytime they saw it happen they felt like they were just toys Beyond kept around. After so many levels most of the leveled accepted this and didn't let it bother them.
Only Legendary bosses kept being revived by Beyond. Mythical bosses were unique. So once defeated, Beyond sought out a new replacement. No one knew where he got them from. Every mythical was different, therefore having different requirements to find. Any other ranked monster came out of portals which lead to other dimensions. These portals were managed by Beyond and could only summon a specific type of creature from a specific place.
"Whenever you guys are ready for level 101 give me a call", as he then teleported away.
As some weeks of rest and preparations went by, the team was finally ready for their next battle.
"We're ready for level 101 Beyond", said Nadeem.
Beyond again appeared out of thin air as if he was always there.
"Already? Well ok then."
"Hold on. Where is Popo? He has been gone since yesterday", as Griffith quickly implied.
Right as Griffith said that, Robin pointed to their camp. Griffith quickly looked and saw Popo all geared up walking towards them.
"Are you alright my friend? We have not seen you since yesterday."
"Yeah and it doesn't look like you slept either", Lucy added.
"I'm fine. I just needed some time alone. Can we go already?"
"Well okay then. Good luck to you all. You'll need it HAHAHAHAHA."
Even though Popo knew what was going to happen. No amount of preparation could ready them for what was next.
