Rise of the Eromancer

"This…"

Clio's eyes started to wander around the so-called 'Coliseum of Champions'. They were walking through a crowded street, and she could not help but be filled with confusion.

The place was nothing like she had expected it to be; people were scattered around everywhere—some under their own tents, some sparring around, and others were just casually walking around like them.

She couldn't see how it was a coliseum at all.

"This… doesn't look like a coliseum at all." She muttered, "I thought there would be an arena."

"What are you talking about, Princess?" Achilles smirked as he glanced back at Clio, his amusement growing as he led Clio and Rhys through the crowded street, "You're already standing in the arena."

"What…?" Clio blinked.

"Yes." Achilles chuckled, the knowing look in his eyes becoming even clearer, "The gods love their games so much, that they couldn't just contain it in one single arena—that's not their style."

"Hm…" Rhys's eyebrows just raised in response to that, as he already knew how many games the gods actually play.

"This place?" Achilles started twirling his fingers, "It's an island—one big, unpredictable battleground. And the people you see here are from different times. The gods plucked them from the timeline and threw all of them here to see who'll come up on top."

"So…" Clio let out a small scoff as she looked around, "It's just another prison."

Achilles chuckled. "You catch on quick, Princess."

Achilles continued to tour the two around the Coliseum, before finally stopping in front of a large bulletin board with a weathered map nailed to it. The map depicted zones across the island, some marked with symbols that looked like flames or swords.

"It's best to not even think about tournaments, Princess. This is a battle royale." Achilles lightly tapped the large map with his palm, "There's no formal schedule here. No referees. No allies. Safe zones are scarce, and I wouldn't even call them Safe Zones at all since other champions have made it their territory."

"Territories?" Rhys narrowed his eyes, studying the map. "So… you can do anything you want?"

"Sure." Achilles shrugged, "Everyone's fair game, any time. You could even try to kill me right now, you'd probably get a lot of points."

"...Points?" Clio blinked.

"Yes, points." Achilles then once again tapped the map—and as he did so, a series of words and images floated right in front of Clio's eyes…no, not only hers, but also Rhys.

"That…" Clio rubbed her eyes as it felt like the words were right in front of her face, but no matter how much she wiped it, it was still there—names and faces, "...Wait, that's you."

Clio then pointed at the top-most part of the list as she quickly recognized Achilles's portrait next to his name. He was, however, the only one that Clio recognized… because the faces of the other portraits were blacked out.

"I am currently at Top 4." Achilles crossed his arms as he reviewed the list, "The other portraits would be invisible to the two of you since you haven't met the other champions on the list yet. As for you two, well… you should be—oh. Look at that, you're not at the bottom at all."

"Ah!" Clio's eyes started moving wildly as the list suddenly panned down. And soon, she saw herself, "That's… me. And that's you, Rhys!"

"Hm…" Rhys was actually not paying attention at all. Well, he was, but not in the same way as Clio. He was also staring at the list… because the way it moved in his eyes was the same exact way as the 5 Hearts floating above Clio's head appeared to him.

Rhys knew that he was closer to the other gods now than he had ever really been—but seeing this now made it so clear to him that he was in a completely different world altogether. They were here, the gods who had granted the humans so much strength and power.

He had already met Apollo, Arachnea, and Hades… and yet it hadn't really fully registered to him yet that he was actually standing beside them. But now… for some reason, for some simple reason…

…Rhys was starting to realize what exactly he was getting into.

"So…" Rhys whispered as he finally focused on the actual contents of the list, "...I'm guessing we moved up because we defeated those… champions from earlier."

"That indeed." Achilles smirked before removing his hands from the board, and as he did so, the list disappeared, "Now, follow me. There's much to learn about this place."

And as Achilles continued to tour them, Rhys caught sight of something that suddenly made him stop—it was the very man he had killed earlier, no. It wasn't just him, the entire group was together again, laughing as if nothing had happened to them.

Well, they stopped laughing as soon as they saw Rhys looking at them; their heads, quickly looking down as they all walked away.

"Didn't… I just kill that man?" Rhys glanced at Clio, who nodded her head immediately as she moved closer to Rhys and wrapped her arm around his.

"How… are they walking around again?"

"Pft…" Achilles chuckled, clearly enjoying Rhys and Clio's reaction. "Once again, welcome to the Coliseum. No one dies here—well, not at first, that is."

Clio's mouth dropped open. "So… what, he just comes back after being killed?"

Achilles nodded. "Pretty much. The laws of this place are different. The gods love a good show, so they don't let champions die for good. The Coliseum brings them back. But there's a catch—each death weakens them bit by bit, both body and mind."

Rhys seemed amused. "So if you keep dying…"

"Eventually, it breaks something inside," Achilles said, his tone suddenly serious. "You start to lose yourself. Most who die enough times either end up insane or stop trying altogether. This place is designed to wear you down until you're nothing more than a shell…

…like that guy over there."

Clio and Rhys looked to where Achilles was pointing, only to see a man lying on the side of the road. His eyes were opened… but there was nothing there at all.

Clio tightened her grip on Rhys's arm, a look of horror crossing her face. "That's… barbaric."

Achilles shrugged. "You're dealing with gods, Princess. They're not in it for mercy…

…and we are their champions, forever cursed to walk until nothing of us is left."