Down With The Gods

The area is blindingly bright, especially for those coming from the dim gaming zone. The surroundings are all white, adorned with carnival-like decorations. Colorful signs attached to balloons float through the air.

Before Wyn and Yu can make sense of their new environment, a demon in a schoolgirl uniform drags a soul by its mouth along with a school bag, zooming past them. The soul’s backhand displays a continuously blinking red number indicating a negative balance of two hundred, and is steadily decreasing. Another demon, dressed in a red and white carnival-themed outfit, takes over from the schoolgirl demon and rushes toward the dome. Wyn quickly checks his balance in alarm and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees it's over fifteen thousand credits. Yu takes a deep breath before tapping his palm, revealing his balance is below nine thousand.

Ahead, booths are scattered haphazardly, blocking the paths. They come in various colors but all have white stripes. Souls with negative balances are getting caught left and right, as demon cats frantically chase them, sometimes crashing into passersby.

Transport options are spread throughout the zone. The fare system is flat-rate regardless of distance. For the most extreme, but free, method, there’s the circus soul cannon. The cannon, shaped like a regular cannon but with a cat face at the tip and paws around it, is operated by a demon cat who shoots the passenger to their chosen landing zone. There’s no insurance for miscalculations or collisions while airborne.

For a modest fare of five hundred credits, souls can rent a rickshaw pulled by a demon cat dressed as a horse. This method should be fast, but its speed is dependent on path congestion, making it unreliable for those in a hurry.

A more controlled option is to fly tied to a smiley cat-faced balloon for one thousand credits. Passengers control the balloon by pulling on the rope tied around their waist. To descend, they yank the rope downward a few times. This method comes with the risk of being hit by a cannon-shot passenger, with no refunds for any accidents.

The two wander through the booths, looking for opportunities to try their luck. Despite the carnival theme, all the booths are gambling-related. They come across a small booth where a demon attendant accepts bets on which of the five fish in an automated water tank will drown last. The fish start by floating on the surface and flap to stay afloat. To place a bet, Wyn touches his palm and announces his choice of fish color and wager amount. He bets one hundred credits on the green fish, while Yu bets on the red one for the same amount. Placing a bet halts balance deductions until the results are known.

A horn sounds, signaling the start of the fish race. Initially, all the fish are equally matched, but the red fish begins to sink slowly while still flapping its mechanical fins. The other fish follow suit, with the green fish leading. Wyn, Yu, and five other souls cheer loudly for their chosen fish. Then Wyn’s worst fear comes true: his fish loses momentum and sinks to the bottom first. Yu laughs and pats Wyn on the back, continuing to cheer for his fish. Another horn sounds, declaring the red fish the winner. Since Yu is the only one who bet on the red fish, he collects his wager multiplied by the number of participants. As the balances adjust, the deductions resume.

“That was fun!” Yu says.

“Yeah, right. For you,” Wyn responds.

Wyn and Yu play ten more rounds at the booth. The results are one win for Wyn and four for Yu, with Yu ending up with a net gain. Whenever they try different booths, Yu consistently wins more bets than Wyn.

“How the turntables. Who’s the noob now?” Yu taunts.

“I am…Let’s explore. Maybe my luck is out there somewhere.”

Fearing heights, Wyn opts for the only grounded transportation mode available. They approach a rickshaw and board it. The imposter horse, unresponsive, remains silent.

“Excuse us, we want to go somewhere but we don’t know the key locations here,” Wyn says.

“There are plenty. You can name the type of booth or site you want to visit,” the imposter horse responds.

“Please tell us in detail,” Yu requests.

“This area is known as the left wing. It is all booths, the same for the right wing. The central portion of the zone houses a full-sized sports stadium. There is also…”

“A sports stadium with real horses?” Wyn interrupts.

“…a sports stadium where you can bet on automated athletes. Nearby, there is a casino.”

“So, robot horses and robot athletes?” Wyn asks again.

“Robot athletes, but real horses like me.”

“If you’re a horse, then you should end a sentence with a ‘neigh’,” Yu jokes.

“Don’t forget what happened with CATOTO and that first-level soul…,” Wyn warns.

“To the athlete stadium. Giddy up!” Yu commands.

“Pay first. Five hundred each,” the imposter horse says.

They pay by touching the phony horse’s cat paws. Wyn’s remaining balance is slightly above ten thousand, while Yu’s is around fourteen thousand. Upon arriving at the stadium, they find a large crowd gathered in front.

“What’s happening? I can’t see anything,” Wyn says.

“Same here, but I hear it’s Greed! Greed is here!” a nearby female soul responds.

Greed appears once a day, challenging souls to an all-or-nothing bet. A loss means their balance falls to zero, which also means doom the moment it goes negative. A win, however, yields a hefty sum of ten million credits. Wyn wants to see what Greed looks like but can’t get past the crowd. Looking up, he notices several souls observing the scene from balloons. He decides to overcome his fear of heights and, with Yu, approaches a siamese cat standing next to a balloon dispenser. They order two balloons.

While in the air, Wyn feels uncomfortable. The height gives him a sense of vulnerability, but then he spots Greed. The level’s mechanized moderator has a large, gold-plated trapezium-shaped body with robotic parts. He has four arms, four hands, four legs, and four feet, all in shiny gold. His gray metallic face is elongated and has a four-sided shape with a central hole where the faces converge. Each face is aligned with a hand and a leg, allowing Greed to challenge multiple souls simultaneously. Judging by his build, he can likely spin his entire body, though Wyn wonders about the use of this ability.

From a distance, it appears one of Greed’s faces is challenging three souls in a card game, while the other two faces are challenging two and three souls in dice games. The last face is playing rock-paper-scissors with one soul. These games seem to take many rounds until Greed grabs two of the souls from the card game with one hand. Wyn believes he sees electrical sparks coming from Greed’s hand to subdue the resisting souls. Armored demons, similar to those from the first level, stand guard around Greed and take the subdued souls toward the dome. Wyn overhears other souls on balloons talking about how an auction of body parts is held all the way at Greed’s tower at the center of the level. He’s slightly disappointed he doesn’t get to see the dismemberment and auction live.

“I think I’ve seen enough,” Wyn says. “Let’s just go inside the stadium.”

The men land in front of the stadium, keeping a safe distance from the crowd. Inside, the stadium is a grand hall decorated in gold with sparkling silver accents. Copper medal-shaped signs hanging from the ceiling direct visitors to different sports, all of which are listed on the signs.

“Let’s try seal clubbing,” Wyn suggests.

“I don’t know anything about it. And that sounds horrible.”

“It’s simple. The game consists of two teams of three plus a goalie. The game is split into two periods. Each period, ten seals are released into the ice rink. Players use clubs to hit the seals into the other team’s net. The period ends after twenty minutes or when all the seals are in the nets. If a seal walks out of the net, the score is deducted. They clean up during the break, and then it’s repeated for the second period.”

“So, blood everywhere?”

“Yep. Both seals’ and players’. Players are allowed to fist-fight each other.”

“How about a NO! Let’s go for something boring, like football. I mean the real one where you use your feet.”

Wyn agrees to go to a football game, the real football. They proceed to take the northeast passage, eventually arriving at a smaller hall. The number of sports listed on the signs thins out as they go through two more halls, finally reaching the football field. Souls gather around the field, and terminals in front of them display team statistics and allow for placing bets.

Wyn scans his backhand at a terminal, and a projection appears in front of him. His balance appears to be on pause. After reviewing the statistics, Wyn wagers one thousand credits on the blue team. Yu places the same bet on the blue team, merely copying Wyn’s choice as the numbers confuse him.

The overhead screen in the middle of the field displays a score of zero to zero at the twenty-minute mark. The souls surrounding the field cheer excitedly. Wyn finds the game boring, preferring fast-paced sports like seal clubbing. At least here, he knows he won't have to endure fake injuries. Despite his credits being on the line, he falls asleep while standing, with no dreams. He awakens to Yu’s constant pokes to his upper arm. The game is already over – a disappointing scoreless draw.

“I thought we didn’t need to sleep in Hell,” Yu remarks.

“Same here. I guess sleeping out of boredom is an exception.”

“Want to go try seal clubbing? It should be less boring, at least. Plus, I’m curious to see if they use real seals.”

“Actually, let’s just leave. Knowing these are bots takes away the fun. Let’s head to the combat zone.”

They take a rickshaw and travel to the right wing of the gambling zone. The combat zone is up ahead.