The Ascendance Deceiver

Credits

"What the hell was that? What did she just say?!" Alayn blurted out, looking dumbfounded.

He wasn't stunned that a goddess-like woman had literally just died right in front of him and then came back to life. He was more shocked by the fact that the goddess claimed to be an angel and referred to the other party who seemed to have killed her or caused her to bleed out as 'pantheons.'

"If I remember correctly, that means gods! So I was right. Haha, I was right to fear the unknown, I was right to restrain my true self." Alayn laughed out loud in his mind, the corners of his mouth slightly curling up. But no one was able to see the changes in Alayn's expression. On one hand, everyone was focused on the self-proclaimed angel on the huge white platform, while on the other hand, Alayn quickly regained control of his expression.

"D-did she just say that she is an angel?" The man whom the two boys called Mr. Luverne, who seemed to have handled the situation they were in quite well until now, blurted out. Alayne glanced at the man and saw the surprise on his face, mixed with lingering fear.

"Brother, she just died. She was bleeding. S-she, she was bleeding!" The young girl next to the man began to mutter with a soft voice, her volume increasing with every word. A darkened expression flowed down her face, and the corners of her eyes turned slightly red.

The girl's sudden cry seemed to snap Luverne out of his trance. He pulled her head to his shoulder and began to console her.

"Wait, forget that. Don't you people remember what she said before all that drama happened? She said we have to kill each other! Each other. That means the seven of us have to kill each other too." The beautiful woman in the blue dress exclaimed, her mesmerizing blue eyes glancing at the other six passengers, captivating them like a vast ocean, hinting at untold mysteries waiting to be discovered.

"And she mentioned something about superpowers too," said the teenager sitting beside Neo, his eyes brimming with lingering curiosity as he leaned forward, his eager expression palpable.

"To be honest, I'm really interested in this superpowers thing too," Neo muttered to Alayn.

"Yeah, I hope we would get good superpowers so we could protect each other," Alayn said with a sweet smile.

"Yeah, me too," Neo reciprocated, his eyes gleaming with warmth as he replied.

"The mood resolved itself quicker than I thought it would. Is there some kind of power playing with our minds too?" Alayn muttered to himself, a slightly concerned expression furrowing his brow as if lost in a cascade of introspective thoughts.

"Ahem. My lovely humans, attention please. I'm not done explaining yet," the goddess-like woman said with her sweet voice, which was like honey poured into silk, cascaded with gentle warmth, leaving a lingering sweetness that enchanted all who heard it. As the auditorium grew quiet, she continued, "As I said before..." she looked at the sky and continued, "Ahem, as I said before, we are going to give you superpowers as aid in this game. The superpowers you receive will differ from each other, and none will be more powerful than the others, although there may be changes in some occasions. For example, we only give you powers that are not at their true potential. You could say they are at a level of 0.5% from their true level. So obviously, they are far from their true power and potential. And in some cases, this could change, and you can increase the percentage of the potential of your powers. Ahhh, my mouth hurts." The angel stopped the explanation midway, sighed, and began to drink some kind of wine-like liquid from a crystalline glass cup she conjured out of thin air.

After drinking the wine-like liquid in two gulps, she continued the explanation, "Okay... As I was saying, you can increase the percentage of the potential of your powers. How to do that? I'm not saying." She emitted an exasperatingly seductive chuckle, a maddening blend of allure and mischief that both intrigued and irritated those within earshot. "Although I will say how you can find out." As her words hung in the air, she gracefully snapped her fingers, and with a flick, a breathtakingly handsome figure emerged from the ethereal mist, his piercing yellow eyes casting an enchanting, otherworldly glow. His golden hair gave off the feeling of embracing the halo of the sun. With his brown skin combined with his black and white three piece suit, gave off the allure of a true angel.

"Humans, give a heartfelt welcome to our 'Cosmo' shop owner, Solarael!" With a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, the angel playfully exclaimed, her voice carrying a melodic cadence that danced through the air. "So, Solarael, I'll leave you to explain about your shop, okay... I'm getting kinda bored of all this explanation stuff. Well then, carry on with the explanation without me~ Bye~.. Oh right, Before I go, please remember that whatever you do in the Kodoku will not affect wether you go to heaven or hell.  Something else would affect though." As the angel uttered those words, she flicked her lustrous, golden tresses, the radiant strands cascading down her shoulders like a sun-kissed waterfall, vanishing into thin air, leaving behind a faint trace of her celestial essence.

"That damn Viviana, she really ran off after putting all the work on my shoulders. Why am I even the shop owner? Can't she do it herself?" All of a sudden, Solarael began to complain, his radiant countenance giving way to a furrowed brow and an exasperated expression etched upon his celestial features.

"It's like watching a family drama," Alayn silently lampooned.

"Anyway, let's finish this quickly. So here is the basic idea of the Cosmo shop. As you begin the game of Kodoku, ah, why Kodoku? Why that kind of crude name for this kind of divine game? Damn Viviana and her naming sense."

"Yep, this sure is a family drama," Alayn tried his best not to laugh at this celestial family drama and focused on the content of Solarael's explanation.

"Anyways, as you all begin playing this 'Kodoku,' you will be teleported to my shop as teams of seven players." Solarael began to call the participants 'the players.' "Don't worry. At first, the seven players in your team, including yourself, will not have to kill each other, although you can if you want to. And the first round of Kodoku will be a seven-versus-seven elimination. You players can make a camp or something and survive the first half as a team. Now, let's get back to how my shop plays a part in this game." As Solarael exclaimed, he cast a discerning gaze upon the gathered "players," as if to ensure they were sufficiently attentive to his explanation. With a nod of satisfaction, Solarael proceeded to resume his elucidation, confident in their undivided focus.

"As I said before, after this explanation, you players will be teleported to my shop as teams of seven players. There, you will receive a card stating your ability, or what you may call a superpower. But I'll stick with the word 'ability.' Along with the ability card, you will also receive a first-time customer bonus. And as for what the bonus is, you will each get one question that you can ask me credit-free. Ah, right, of course, I forgot to explain what credit is. Credit is the currency you will use while playing this game. You can use it to obtain food, water, weapons, information, or anything else you want. You can even have something custom-built if you have enough credits to pay for it. And to earn these credits, there are a few methods. As the first method, you can kill other players and earn credits through the kill method. As I mentioned in the beginning, with the first-time bonus, every player will also receive a thousand credits each. By killing other players, you can earn another thousand credits plus the credits they owned at that time. For example, if a player kills another player with 200 credits in their account, they will receive a total of 1,200 credits. I think you understand what I'm saying.

As for the second method, you can sell the belongings and items and other stuff of other players and your own, though it will be up to me to decide how many credits you get for those items. And finally, for the last method, you can undertake missions and complete them to earn an enormous amount of credits. As for who offers these missions, I won't say anything about that here. Of course, you can use your one free question or credits to get the answer. So, players, that's all for the explanation about the 'Cosmo' shop and the credit system. After this, you will all be teleported to my shop, and remember that you can use the shop anytime you want with your ability card. Okay then, happy hunting, I guess." As Solarael concluded his explanation about the shop and the credit system, a dazzling burst of golden light erupted from the stage, engulfing every individual in the auditorium.

As the blinding light enveloped the seven passengers of the 11-30 train, Alayn felt a peculiar sense of déjà vu as his consciousness seemed to dissolve. When he finally opened his eyes, he discovered himself standing on a resplendent golden platform, surrounded by a breathtakingly pristine white room.

Before them stood a counter crafted from pure crystals, emanating a captivating glow. At the far end of the counter, Solarael, with his majestic golden eyes, gazed intently at the seven players before him, meticulously absorbing every intricate detail about them.

As the seven players looked at this angelic man in front of them, Solarael extended a warm welcome to them with his captivating voice, saying, "Welcome to the Cosmo shop, players."