Chapter 71: Sam's POV

'The first stage.

Participants: 100000.

Civilization level: Ena.

Objective: Survive.

Release all of your darkest emotions. Do whatever you want to. From now on, all of the participants are Apostle candidates.

Count down: 72:00:00

71:59:59'

I am transported to a crowded area.

What is this place?

The girls! Where are they?! I can not see them anywhere!

"Lily! Yui! Yuno! Nycta!" I call their names out in the open, yet no one replies.

No, no. Do not panic! We have anticipated this already. It is still according to the plan.

I need to stay calm, that is the most important thing right now. Each of them is very capable. I should worry about myself first before starting to find anyone.

Let's first make out where I am.

Standing in the middle of the crowd, people notice and step aside from me, heading to where they are supposed to. Even though I just shout out loud like that, they still don't pay me any attention.

They all look very busy with their suits and ties, walking at a very fast pace. And the language they speak although is quite different, somehow I can understand them. Unlike Earth where we have different hair and eye colors, this place only has a couple. Quite strange, I must say. Their cars also have a small tube at the end. It reminds me of a gas engine I saw in a book.

The city, the roads, the vehicles, are all quite similar to Nohin's Capital. But there is a slight difference in the scenery. It gives me a feeling as if this is another Earth.

Looking all around me, I can see the flags that I think are of this country: 13 Stripes of red and white with a blue square on the left corner, inside of that square are 50 stars. This is the first time I have never seen such a flag, but it looks oddly similar to the flag of The Church, except that The Church has the stars in circles.

This is odd, very odd. Is this how Selection is? Not that I know what it should be, anyway. The last time Earth had a Selection was 2000 years ago.

What am I supposed to be doing here? Survive for 72 hours?

This is going to be hard. Especially when I know nothing about this place. There is no way a Selection from the Goddess will be something mundane.

I wonder how the girls are managing. Please be safe...

"I'm fine, Sam. At least for right now. The others are probably fine, too." I hear Nycta's quiet voice in my head.

"Haaaaaaaaaah!" Letting out a huge breath, I feel a bit better.

Lately, Nycta and I have been sleeping with each other. Every time I released inside her, the crest on her lower stomach seemed to light up a little. With that, the power of Nycta's special ability somehow grew bigger. She can now talk to me telepathically, which is a pretty good thing considering we are unable to communicate.

"You are seeing this, right?"

"Yes, I can. Though I'm not sure where I am. So first I must find a target to take their vision."

"Be careful, Nycta." Her voice calms me down a little more. It is good to know they are doing fine.

"Hehe! I know you love me. This girl will come to you soon, Dar-ling."

Suddenly, I hear a ruckus.

"Waaaaaah! Save me!!!" A woman screams. "Get this guy off! He's biting me! Arrrrrrghhh!!."

*Gargle gargle*

I look towards the sound, and the spectacle is just very weird. A woman is being pinned down on the ground by a man, screaming for her dear life.

Strangely, the man does not look like the rest of the people in this area. His skin is a pale purple, while darker veins spread all over his face. Also, his eyes are clearly out of focus. It looks just like a dead person's eyes.

"AAAAHHH!!! AAAAHHH!!!! SAVE ME!!"

As he bites into her neck, blood splatters all over the concrete pavement. Until the woman goes limp, he is still biting her, tearing pieces of flesh out, and swallowing it.

Is he...is he eating her? What is up with this place?

"Hey! Let her go!"

"What's up with this man?!"

"Somebody call 911!! She's unconscious!"

Some men and women start to come close and try to help the woman still pinned down on the ground. While some are actually taking out what I think are phones in this world and pointing those forward. I guess this is the equivalent of a viral video in this world.

I quickly step back. My mission is to survive, I am not going to be the hero. My only objective is to go back home, to the penthouse with the girls. For that reason, I will stay away from this. But still, I need to gather intelligence, first.

"Hey! You! Let her go!" A man in a suit approaches the strange guy. He tries to pull the guy off.

"Grarh!!" Straight away, the strange guy jumps forward at him. With his pale arms, he grabs the body of the man in a suit.

*Crack* *Shhh*

The pale man abnormally unhinges his jaws and bites down the face of his prey, pulling out the skin. Blood gushes out right after.

That man is seriously eating the guy.

"GAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK!? LET ME GO!! ARGHHHHHHHHHH! LET ME FUCKING GO! FUCKING HELP ME HERE DON'T JUST LOOK!!" The man in the suit yells at the surroundings. However, unlike the first time, people now have seen the strange occurrence and are not trying to intervene. Of course, it is like that. No one understands what is going in, so blindly jumping in without any kind of information is just useless chivalry.

Still, many are staying and observing, so much that a crowd seems to be forming around this place.

No one seems to be using magic, too.

"Hahaha! So this is the Goddess' trial! Too easy!"

*Whoosh* *Boom* *Crack crack crack*

Red hair, red eyes, normal face. That is the guy who just got down from the sky with one hand on the ground. He actually shattered the earth around him when he just landed.

I spoke too soon. There is one. Well, two, me included, but I am not going to join him.

The crowd is shocked by his appearance.

"Eh?!"

"Superhero landing? That's so last year!"

"Ah?"

"Is this some kind of practical effect?"

"Practical effects are now this real already?"

The red hair guy laughs and spreads out his arms. "Fear not, people of this world! My name is L'ren. I was sent here by a greater being to protect you from harm! The first thing I am going to do is to destroy this creature!"

L'ren walks confidently towards the strange guy still eating the man in a suit.

There is lava wrapping around his fists, dripping down on the concrete ground.

Earth and Fire combination.

Fire Creation magic: Lava Fists.

Is he seriously really going in without thinking?

"Take this, low-life being! Hah!" L'ren shouts as he punches his Lava Fist through the body of the strange guy. It burns through like butter.

"Hahaha! See this? This is the power of your savior! This is the power of the new Apostle." He laughs again, but no one is cheering up for him.

Because even though his power is mind-boggling to the people of this world, the strange guy is still not dead.

How is he not seeing this?

*Crack*

"Uwah!" L'ren yells in surprise. He probably has never seen a man still alive after having his guts burned through. Well, I haven't, too. So that makes us even.

The head turns around 180 degrees in a quick motion, and the neck extends an exceptional amount.

I have a bad feeling about this.

*Chomps*

"ARGH! MY ARM!" L'ren yells in pain.

*Twitch*

The body of the woman nearby abruptly twitches.

Huh? What is that?

I thought that woman was dead?

Her skin!? It's changing colors! Right now it is the exact color of the strange guy, a pale purple. And I can see her veins as a darker color, too.

*Clack clack clack clack*

She hits her jaws together in a crazy way as she gets up.

"Grrrrrra. Grrrrrrrrra!"

"GRAAAAAAAH!!!"

She jumps at L'ren, who is the closest to her.

*Crunch*

"Arghhhhh! WHAT THE FUCK WOMAN!"

The woman, now in her crazy state, bites the neck of L'ren, drinking his blood and chewing his skin like a delicacy.

"What is going on here?!" Someone else is joining in? Oh! They look like people with authority. Two men, each holding something like a gun, point their weapons at the woman and the man still trying to eat L'ren.

"Let the man go! We are warning you two!" They shout.

"Graaaaaaaaa!!" Groan the two crazy people as they let L'ren go and charge at the two authority figures.

*Bang bang bang*

They fire their weapons. To no avail.

*Crack crunch*

"Gaaaahh!!" And it is their turn to be eaten.

There is a pattern here that I can see. It seems that people affected by that thing will become mindless and feel no pain, also they can change their bodies as needed.

I wonder if there is any way to kill them. Maybe the head?

*Bang bang*

Another two shots are fired, but not at their bodies but their heads. These guys are better than that L'ren guy, I see.

*Crunch pshhh*

But the two strange people are still unfazed.

"ARGHHHHH! CALL FOR BACKUP!!!"

"RAAHHHH!!!"

The two try their best to fend off the enemies, but they are simply overwhelmed by the strange cases.

"Hiyah!!"

L'ren punches his lava fist towards the head of the strange guy, completely destroying it. Right after that, the body loses function.

So destroying the head works. I gotta remember that.

Wait! L'ren also has pale skin now!?

It is infectious, too?!

"I told...you...grah..mmguh...that...I will...grah...Grrrra...GRRRURUUUUUUU!!!"

'Participants: 99999.

Participants: 99998...'