The setting was an underground parking garage, which was extremely well lit. There were only a few cars scattered about, but what really caught my attention, was the fact that there was a LOT more headspace than in any real parking garage that I’d ever been in. I figured that this was probably because we were in the gathering area before the contest, and the Coordinator wanted to play up the theatrics.

“This is like a parking garage for semis,” Matt said, echoing my own thoughts on just how large and open this particular parking garage was. “But man, I bet this would be an awesome place for a paintball match…”

“I think you have an unfair advantage now,” I pointed out.

“This place looks kind of creepy,” Teri announced as she looked around, though she actually looked excited at that. “I bet this contest is a zombie apocalypse or something.” Then she excitedly suggested, “Maybe we have to see who can kill the most zombies…”

“That might actually be fun,” Matt added with a grin.

I just nodded, not feeling very enthusiastic about that idea at the moment. In fact, I wasn’t really feeling enthusiastic about anything. It had only been a couple hours since I’d escaped, and I hadn’t had nearly enough time to rest and recover, physically or mentally.

“Are you going to be okay?” Cassandra asked, giving me a worried look.

“I’ll manage,” I told her with a forced smile.

Teri gave me a worried look of her own. “I can’t believe they’re making you come and do this… I mean, they could at least give you the day off or something…”

“Somehow, I don’t think the gods work that way,” Matt said.

With a shake of my head, I agreed, “No, they don’t.” I remembered Maelyne’s warning about what was going on, and said, “Be careful…even more than usual. Some of the gods aren’t bothering to follow the rules anymore.”

“This whole game is fucked up to start with,” Cassandra muttered. “Now, it sounds like it’s turned into a fucking shit storm.”

“Definitely,” I agreed.

“We looked all over for you,” Teri whispered to me with a guilty look. She looked like she was about to start crying. “We didn’t know where you were…”

“I know,” I responded, wanting to reassure Teri that I didn’t blame any of them for what had happened to me.

Before I could say anything more, the Coordinator, the Referee, and the Cleaner made their appearances. As usual, they stood on top of some invisible platform where they could look over the gathered champions.

“A new contest begins,” the Coordinator began, the same way he did with every contest I’d been in. “At the very top of the building above us, there is a locked vault. The first champion, or group of up to three champions, to open this vault, will be declared the winner or winners. However, in order to open this vault, you will require three keys. There are seven keys scattered throughout the building, and any three of them will work on the vault.”

“And I bet the building is full of zombie office workers,” Teri whispered with a broad grin.

“Aren’t all officer workers zombies?” Cassandra whispered back with a smirk.

The Coordinator opened his mouth to say something else, when there was a sudden flash of green and purple. An instant later, Robe…Arakthiel was standing behind the old man. A burst of purple energy tore out of the Coordinator’s chest, and I immediately recognized the attack since I’d definitely seen it before…the night Robe had killed Heather. The soul killer.

While this was going on, Harker and Nadine launched their own attacks on the Referee and the Cleaner. The Referee was hit with a blast of wind that caught her by surprise and sent her flying off the platform, right into March’s sword. At the same time, the Cleaner vanished in a wave of flames.

This all happened in seconds, and was over with before I could even react to this sudden attack. All around me, champions were gasping in shock at how quickly and easily the three had been taken down.

“No fucking way,” Cassandra blurted out, drawing an arrow and firing it at March, though it merely bounced off his armor.

Arakthiel leapt off the invisible platform and landed beside the Referee, who was still moving, in spite of having been cut nearly in half. He held out his hand and fired a blast of purple energy. A second later, the Referee’s body was gone…along with a large section of the ground.

“The Arbiters have been injured,” Arakthiel stated in his creepy voice. He looked down to where the Referee had been. “The link between patron and champion makes then vulnerable to indirect attack…from a direction they did not think to guard against. I should have done this centuries ago… As of now, the game is finally over…”

All I could do was remain frozen in shock, realizing that the other champions hadn’t realized what was going on yet. They still thought they were facing Robe…not his patron. They had no idea just how outmatched they were.

Then the entire parking garage exploded into chaos as every champion burst into action at the same time. Several champions turned and ran, taking advantage of the opportunity to get away while they could. However, most of the champions charged forward instead. Maybe they realized that they’d be next. Maybe they thought that they’d get a lot of extra points by taking down the people who’d killed the Arbiter’s representatives. Or maybe, just like in any good bar fight, they just wanted in on all the action.

“This is for what you did to Jeri,” Matt exclaimed, opening fire on Nadine.

“I was happy to kill him,” Nadine responded with a laugh.

Teri snarled with anger and opened fire with her own paintball gun, which I hadn’t even realized that she’d brought until now. Nadine snarled in anger and sent out a wave of fire. Matt jumped back out of the way, though Teri couldn’t move fast enough. I summoned her back to my side, not wanting to take a chance on those flames.

“Don’t just stand there and take the hit if you don’t have to,” I warned Teri. “You’re not tough enough to get away with that, not even with my shield.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Teri grumbled, opening fire again, though her accuracy wasn’t anywhere near as good as Matt’s, and she was missing nearly every shot.

“We have GOT to take you paintballing with us,” I muttered, deciding that she should get some practice.

Teri misunderstood though and grinned at Matt. “You hear that, nerd boy? She’s totally impressed…”

I threw up a shield wall and blocked a couple fireballs, though my heart jumped at the sight of them. Still, I forced myself to remain where I was instead of turning and running. My friends were counting on me and I was NOT going to let them down. No matter what, I was going to keep them safe. But even as I threw shields around Matt and Teri, I tried to keep track of what else was going on around me.

Don and March were trading blows while Harker went at it with the magical girl. However, it was Arakthiel who really concerned me. His scythe was burning with purple flames, ones which matched the ones from his eyes. If anyone was paying attention, they would have realized that something was seriously wrong with him, but everyone was too caught up in the excitement to pay attention.

Cloak came at Arakthiel, covered in his aura of darkness. However, Arakthiel wasn’t the least bit concerned by that patch of smoke and shadows, and lashed out with his scythe. The weapon sliced right through the darkness…and through Cloak himself. The cloak of smoke and shadows vanished, letting everyone see what was left of Cloak.

“THAT ISN’T MASON!” I yelled out, trying to warn everyone. “IT’S ARAKTIEL! HIS PATRON IS POSSESSING HIM…”

“Can they do that?” someone asked from behind me, though I didn’t look to see who.

“Yeah, it looks like they can,” Cassandra answered, firing several arrows at Arakthiel, though he easily dodged them.

As much as I wanted to watch what everyone else was doing, I had my own fight to deal with. I turned my full attention back to Nadine, feeling a strange mixture of terror and rage. I wanted to turn and run away, but I also wanted to attack her with everything I had.

For several seconds, I just stood there, staring at Nadine and feeling paralyzed by indecision. But then, she threw a blast of fire at Teri, and that shocked me out of it. I threw a shield on Teri and hoped that she remembered the warning I’d given her earlier.

Matt fired at Nadine with his paintball gun, and she spat out a few profanities before exclaiming, “I’m gonna burn your ass the same way I did Jerry…”

Then Nadine abruptly snapped around and fired a powerful blast of flames at Teri. I immediately threw another shield on her, but the flames hit it and burned through the shield in seconds. Enough fire remained from the attack to get through and hit Teri, who shrieked in pain.

“NO!” I snarled as the rage surged up enough to drive the fear back.

I summoned Teri back and healed her, but she was still shaken from the pain of the injury. I glared at Nadine, knowing that I couldn’t let her hurt me or my friends again. One way or another, I had to stop her…for good.

A second later, I acted, more out of anger and determination than from any conscious thought. I formed my shield wall in bulldozer mode and charged straight at Nadine. Even as I did this, I knew it was reckless and stupid, but that wasn’t going to stop me. Instead, I quickly decided that if I was going to charge in with that kind of reckless abandon, I had to do it right.

“LEROY JENKINS!” I yelled as I slammed right into the stunned Nadine, driving her back.

Flames burst up against my shield and tried to get around it, but they weren’t quite powerful enough. As soon as the flames faded, I dropped my shield so I could have a clear shot at the bitch with my spear. However, a burst of flames exploded out, causing me to yelp in pain, jump back, and drop my spear, all at the same time.

“I’m going to kill you, Sievers,” Nadine snarled.

Nadine winced in pain and held her stomach, right where I’d impaled her a couple hours ago. Obviously, my attack hadn’t killed her, but she hadn’t healed all the way yet either. That injury might give me enough advantage to win this.

“You already killed me,” I spat back, lunging forward and punching Nadine on her cheek. Nadine was stronger than I was, but she’d hurt me enough so that my punch had a little extra ‘ooomph’ behind it. There was a flash of light and she cried out in pain and surprise. “And I’m not Heather, you psycho bitch…”

Nadine gave me a look of confusion, obviously having no idea what I was talking about. I knew that Maelyne wanted to keep this a secret, but there was no longer any real reason to do so, other than my pride. As Arakthiel had already demonstrated, our enemies already knew how to replace souls.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Nadine demanded. Her fists burst into flames as she prepared to come at me again.

I clenched my own fists, wishing that I had some more damage saved up to hit her with. That damage buff would have been a great trick for a tank, just like that protection. However, I wasn’t nearly tough enough…or masochistic enough…to really take advantage of it.

“Don’t you recognize me?” I demanded with a bitter sneer. “Oh wait, you can’t, because I have a new look…thanks to you. I’m Jerry. Jerry Tanner.”

“WHAT?” Nadine blurted out with a look of stunned disbelief.

I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of her distraction and summoned my spear back into my hands. An instant later, I slashed at Nadine, trying to hit her in the stomach, in the same place I’d gotten her earlier. However, in spite of the pain and distraction, Nadine reacted faster than I expected and blocked my spear with her arm. Her arm exploded.

Nadine shrieked in pain as she dropped to her knees, grabbing at the shredded ruins of what had been her arm.

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED AN OPPOSING CHAMPION.

REWARD: +20 MANA POOL, +20 MANA RECOVERY, +20 HEALTH, AND +20 REGENERATION. YOUR COMPANIONS GAIN +20 HEALTH AND +20 REGENERATION.

“I did it,” I gasped, backing away. I managed to beat Nadine again, and this time, it hadn’t just been luck.

“Are you crazy?” Matt demanded, appearing by my side and giving me a worried look. “You aren’t a front-line fighter.”

“Leave her alone,” Teri demanded of her brother. “Jeri earned the right to kick her ass.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Matt grudgingly admitted.

I healed myself then looked around the parking garage, where everyone who remained was still fighting. Don and March were still going at it. Harker was blasting Axe Guy with a massive burst of wind that sent him toppling end over end, right into Crossbow. And then there was Arakthiel, who was fending off four champions at the same time, without much apparent difficulty.

Nadine was still on the ground, having been taken out of the fight from the shock and pain of losing her arm. As far as I was concerned, this wasn’t nearly enough, and I wanted to finish her off for good. However, the idea of going after someone who was already down and defeated left a sour taste in my mouth, no matter how much she might deserve it.

But then, Nadine suddenly burst into flames and began screaming in agony. I jumped back, readying myself for her new attack. Matt and Teri positioned themselves beside me, ready to deal with whatever it was that she was going to pull now.

“You should have killed her when you had the chance,” Matt said with a grim expression.

Teri had abandoned her paintball gun for her bat, which she was clutching tightly. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I’m getting tired of fighting this bitch…”

As Nadine got back to her feet, I saw that while her body was covered with flames, her ruined arm now seemed to actually be made of them. But in spite of that, Nadine didn’t even seem to notice these changes to her arm. She screams of pain had cut off and she was now eerily silent.

“No,” I gasped in suddenly realization. A cold weight like lead settled into my guts as I took a nervous step backwards. Our problems had just become a crap ton worse.

“Burn and suffer,” Nadine announced in a cruel and eerie tone, that definitely didn’t belong to her. Then Nadine…Pfath, god of fire and pain, said, “I too have had enough of my champion’s failures… I will take matters into my own hands…”

“Oh shit,” Matt gasped, realizing what had just happened.

That was immediately echoed by Cassandra’s, “FUCK!”

Cassandra fired several arrows straight at Nadine…at Pfath, hitting her in the chest. The arrows burned away and the burning god looked around, apparently unharmed. Obviously, Pfath was a lot tougher than Nadine.

Just as I was starting to fear that things couldn’t possibly get any worse, I felt another shift in the air…and another surge of power. This time, it came from March, or at least, from his patron Kr’aethar, god of steel, war, and resolve, who was now possessing him as a meat puppet too.

“NO!” a voice suddenly called out.

To my surprise, it was Harker, who was staring at her own allies with an expression of horror. Her team had just become a LOT more powerful, so it took me a couple seconds to realize why she was so bothered by that. Her allies had just been possessed by their patrons, and she realized that she would probably be next.

“This is insane,” Harker exclaimed. “This isn’t what I signed up for…”

And with that, Harker took off, running away as fast as she could. Her own teammates, or at least their patrons, watched her go with unreadable expressions. Several champions took advantage of that momentary distraction to attack again.

“Look out!” I yelled, throwing shields on Teri and Matt. I raised my voice so that I’d be easier to hear over the chaos, “They’ve all been taken over by their patrons!”

Arakthiel leapt at Crossbow, blasting him with a ball of purple energy that caused his entire body to disintegrate and vanish. At the same time, Kr’aethar swung his greatsword at Don, who blocked with his shield. The blade sliced right through the shield and came down into Don’s shoulder, cutting partway through the armor.

“DON!” I called out, healing him and wishing that I could do more.

“Destroy these champions,” Arakthiel commanded the other gods. “We can injure our enemies through their mortal pawns…”

Pfath held out her hands, forming a ball of flames between them. She was preparing for another attack, and when I looked to where her eyes were locked, I saw several injured champions. Axe Guy was sprawled out on the ground, in a puddle of blood, with his leg bent at a horrific angle. Spear Check was crouched down beside him, looking hurt as well, though she was still trying to protect him.

“Crap,” I muttered, desperately wishing I could throw shields on other people, besides just my companions. These people might have been pains in my butt, but there was no way I could just stand there and let them get burned alive. “Cover me,” I ordered Matt and Teri.

I ran up to where Axe Guy and Spear Chick were crouched down, and immediately threw up a shield wall between us and Pfath. Then I followed that up by activating Maelyne’s shield, creating a second layer of protection right before the flames came at us. The ball of fire hit my shield wall and burned right through it, then hit my second shield, which held at the cost of my mana.

“Hold on,” I cried out in desperation as my mana level quickly dropped.

“We’re gonna die,” Spear Chick blurted out in terror, though I did my best to ignore her.

As soon as the attack was over, I dropped my shield with a sigh, then used my remaining mana to heal Spear Chick and Axe Guy. I only healed a small part of Axe Guy’s damage, but hopefully, it would be enough to help him survive until his regeneration was able to fix the rest. I was pretty sure that his regeneration was high enough to take care of that fairly quickly.

Spear Chick gave me a look of surprise. “Thanks…”

I looked over our shared enemies, three gods with a LOT of power. They were a lot stronger than their champions, but they didn’t seem quite as powerful as I would have expected. If they had been, they could have just snapped their fingers and killed all of us, but they were obviously having to put a little effort into it instead. Since they were possessing their champions, maybe they couldn’t use their full power. Maybe those bodies were like a bottleneck, limiting how much of their power they could really bring out. For some reason, that idea felt right to me. Then again, it may just have been wishful thinking so I could at least feel like we had a chance.

“They’re getting ready for another attack,” I said, noting the way all three of the possessed champions were standing. A bit louder, I called out the warning, “GET READY!’

“Look out!” Matt cried, throwing himself at me and knocking me aside, right before a large glowing hole appeared right beneath where I’d been standing. Axe Guy and Spear Chick hadn’t moved in time and dropped down into the hole with a loud yell, right before they vanished along with the hole.

“What the hell?” I demanded, looking around and realizing that this wasn’t the only hole to have opened. Everywhere I looked, holes had opened up beneath all the champions, and then vanished again once the champions had dropped through. “What are they doing…?”

I turned to face the nearest champion, Pfath, so I could defend myself from whatever this was, only to see Pfath fall through a hole as well. It took me a couple more seconds to realize that the other gods had also fallen through similar holes.

“What’s going on?” Teri demanded, looking around with a worried expression.

It wasn’t until that moment, that I realized that everyone else was gone, having fallen through these holes. The only ones who remained, were me and my companions.

“Where’d they go?” Matt demanded. “And what did they do?”

A new voice answered from behind me. “That was my doing.”

I snapped around and saw the Cleaner standing there, though he looked badly injured, with severe burns. The man looked like he could barely stand, but that alone was a miracle since I’d though he was dead.

“They are gods in mortal form,” the Cleaner said with a grimace of pain. “Too powerful for mortals to defeat. So, I did the only thing I could to save the champions...I created portals to return everyone to their starting places. This may not defeat the gods, but it gives everyone a chance to escape.”

“Then why are we still here?” Teri asked, looking around in confusion.

The Cleaner smiled faintly, though it was obviously a little forced. “Because, it seems that you escaped your portal home…” He fixed his gaze on Matt, who merely shrugged.

I stared at the Cleaner for a moment, then healed him several times in a row. After three times, he seemed to have been fully restored, and he no longer looked like he was in pain. He still seemed tired, physically and emotionally, but no longer in physical pain.

“Thank you,” the Cleaner said, giving me a grateful smile.

“What happens now?” I asked quietly.

“This competition has been cancelled,” the Cleaner told me with a deep scowl. “And the game has…ended. There will be no more competitions for the foreseeable future.”

“So, it’s all over with,” Teri said with a look of relief. “No more competitions…”

“No more competitions,” I agreed with a scowl of my own. “But it isn’t over. Now, there’s going to be war…with no rules to keep things from going too far.”

“Yes,” the Cleaner agreed. “The competitions may have seemed extreme, but they were a necessary evil that prevented something far worse.”

Matt nodded thoughtfully. “Like an escape valve, that let the pressure out under controlled conditions, so it didn’t build up and explode.”

The Cleaner merely nodded agreement. “You should return home and prepare for what is to come.” He gestured and a new hole appeared in the air in front of us. It wasn’t a hole, but a portal, and I had no doubt that if I stepped through it, I’d end up back at the house, right where we’d left from. “But before you go, you might as well have this…”

“What’s this?” I asked, accepting a cloth bag from the Cleaner. I gave it a skeptical look.

“These were to be the prizes for this contest,” the Cleaner answered with a forced smile. “They no will not work for me, so I have no use for them. And as you are the only one remaining, I leave them all in your hands…”

A moment later, the Cleaner turned and walked through a new portal that appeared in the air in front of him. He vanished along with the portal, as he literally left me holding the bag.