Dungeon Raider System

Uriel's condition worsened as the tournament progressed and not just because of the wounds he received but also because they refused to give him any medical attention due to his immoral acts. He was accused of breaking the rules of the tournaments multiple times and people in the social media went on a campaign to cancel him.

People started digging information about him in hopes of finding something to accuse him of and it wasn't long until they found out about his misdeeds in the Jacobs company, where Uriel killed dozens of innocent employees which led to a massive riot causing the tournament to be paused 'until further notice'. People who came from other megacities were beyond frustrated by the developments, but Tina Celes could not be happier about the circumstances.

The tournament being stalled also meant that people would stay in the city for longer which in turn would increase her personal earnings in the Celes company and also in the city. With so few teams left, people were reluctant to leave the city without seeing the end of the tournament as they didn't want to miss Uriel getting his punishment for his actions.

And there lied Tina's conundrum because now that his crimes had been brought to light she could rightfully unleash the holy rank hunters upon Uriel and get rid of him for good, but at the same time, losing him as a competitor would make a great amount of people to lose interest in the tournament at all as the only thing they wanted to see was Uriel suffering.

Unfortunately for Tina, Lily, Sam and even Jon Hunter seemed to be in good terms with Uriel which was a feat in its own. Governors were usually chosen from people who would get along with the holy rank hunters appointed to a city, but although they made all the hard work in managing the city, Governors were replaceable while holy rank hunters were not.

Consolidating a friendly relationship with two holy rank hunters would be akin to the greatest success a governor could earn, but Uriel had the backing of three of them without even trying. This was bothersome, especially since they just happened to be the three holy rank hunters present at the city, meaning none of them would be inclined to make a move against Uriel which effectively meant Tina could not take any direct action against him.

"Where is my useless husband in the rare occasions I need him?" Asked Tina in a huff and her assistant shook her head. It wasn't rare for Mark to disappear from time to time, though it was usually due to his delusion that Uriel was always after him and finding him was never difficult for Tina. She would hire a tracker or too, send them to the shabbiest places in the slums and they would find Mark drinking himself unconscious in a cheap hotel and sometimes in abandoned apartments.

But this time was different as Mark not only disappeared from the face of the earth in the most inconvenient time, but Tina knew that if there was one person who wanted to see Uriel get punished in the entire planet it had to be Mark.

From Uriel's perspective Mark was a nuisance that needed to be put in his place from time to time and while there had been many occasions where he could have gotten rid of Mark, Uriel also did not care to put any effort in it. More than hate, what Uriel felt towards Mark was nothing but cold indifference.

Mark just was not relevant to him anymore, not even with the help of a horror level eclipse was he a threat to him or his company which Uriel left more than clear when he broke by himself into the Jacobs office building and started gunning down his employees.

"Maybe he's on a bender to recover from what happened at his firm." Said Tina's assistant.

"As if he cared about those people. There is absolutely nothing about that man that other than his hold on the Jacobs company worth anything, and the only time I actually need him as a hunter he vanishes." Tina massaged her temple as Mark had became an unexpected headache she needed to deal with.

"If that is how you think then why did you marry him?" Sophie, Tina's assistant who's had a crush on Mark since she met him, asked with little success in hiding her negative feelings towards Tina.

"Do you remember all the time we spent together with Mary? The good old days where shopping was our biggest worry... do you remember my dad?"

"I do remember him." Sophie adjusted her glasses with trembling hands as just the memory of her one encounter with that man had left a deep scar within her.

"He was not a good man by anyone's standards, but he taught me that it doesn't matter if you're good or bad as long as you get the job done. Morality is something only those who are alive can question and sometimes you have to do filthy things to survive." Tina replied.

If Mark was there to hear Tina talk about him like the filth of the earth he would have likely felt nothing. He not only had a thick skin but he was also accustomed to Tina talking to him like that, though nothing would have stopped him from having a tantrum of epic proportions.

However, Mark was not there nor was he close to the stadium where Tina's temporary office was located. For some reason Mark could not fathom, he ended up in college and before he knew it he was already entering the library. Much to his surprise, there were other people he knew already in there and they all shared confused looks before speaking.

"You too?" Medusa asked.

"Me what?" Mark tilted his head.

"Talking to him is like speaking to a wall, just ask the Eclipse and he'll know what's going on." Sam scoffed.

"There seems to be a spatial disruption that brought us here, but I am unsure of its source or nature." The eclipse said in a raspy voice.

"Uhm... I had high hopes for your ancient wisdom," Said Luna to the eclipse. "but you're no better."

"Didn't I just explain what brought us here?" The eclipse asked, then continued in a more threatening tone. "are you not afraid of the eternal night? The consumer of light? The..."

"Can you shut up for a moment? I can't hear myself think with all this noise." Jon snarled prompting the horror level eclipse to reply meekly.

"Yes, Sir."

"We already figured out the spatial distortion part," Luna explained to the eclipse feeling bad for its ancient wisdom being useless in the current circumstances. "and we also know a god is involved in this, but we don't know which one."

"We must start considering that maybe there's a reason why we're all here together. There must be something we have in common." Asked Captain Silvermane, followed soon by Alonso speaking in a mix of Spanish and English no one understood.

"That's pretty fucking clear by this point." Blurted out Sharp.

"Uriel." Said many in unison, though there was little surprise in their voice.

"But who... who could be powerful enough to turn this library into a dungeon. It must be a powerful god or a titan, or something!" Said Sam as he gazed at the distance and found the library to be infinite.

"It's the 'something' that worries me, because this is not a dungeon," Medusa let out a sigh, then continued when many curious gazes looked at her, yet she only spoke after directing a slight amount of flux to her eyes to get those who for some reason were not looking at her face. "I'm quite sure this is not a dungeon."

"We all know dungeons defy the laws of physics, there is no other explanation." Said Mark, though he took a couple steps back when the glares became unbearable.

"Dungeons seem to defy logic, but they actually don't. They have a power source, security measures and structures devised to create strange effects like anti gravitation, eternal darkness and in this case... space distortion."

"I agree with Medusa, this is not a dungeon. It doesn't smell."

"Do dungeons have a particular smell?" Asked Jon.

"No, but this place does not have any smell whatsoever. Even the books..." Luna grabbed one from the shelf and passed it along and everyone confirmed that not even the leathery cover had any smell at all.

Some of those present had been there for what seemed like days, but with no means of tracking time the only thing they could do was talk or investigate the place finding nothing of remark other than the fact that no matter in which direction they walked the place was infinite. Yet it wasn't until Mark arrived that things started developing, as though someone had planned it.

"Hang on, I think I know what's going on here..." Jon mumbled to himself before channeling a large amount of flux energy and shouting to the top of his lungs. "let us go you old weasel!"