"You've come so far, Lux. I am proud of your achievements. As expected of the person that Max chose for his Heaven's Gate Project."
"If you really feel that way, can you just treat the corruption of the Abyss inside me, so I can fight to my fullest tomorrow."
Eriol chuckled after hearing Lux's request. Right now, the two of them were talking in Eriol's God Domain.
When Lux opened his eyes, he found himself in what seems to be an elegant garden located on a floating island.
At the center of it was a small gazebo, where a young boy with short, dark-blue hair, and gray eyes, who seemed to be only around the age of ten, sat.
Lux naturally knew he was because it was the same person that had played a major role in allowing him to take that first step to realize his goal.
It was none other than the God of Games, Eriol.
"I can't do that, you know," Eriol said in a teasing tone as he moved a pawn forward. "As a God, I must be impartial."
"Impartial my foot," Lux grumpily replied as he moved the knight to make an offensive move. "I'm just asking for my Abyss Corruption to be treated. It's not like I'm asking you to help me win my match in the next few hours."
The two had been playing chess for several hours already, but out of the ten games they played, Lux hadn't even won once.
"I can't heal your injuries because that will be breaking the rules," Eriol stated as he moved his Queen right in front of Lux's King. "People think that Gods are omnipotent, but there are things that even we cannot do, like saving a dying world. Okay, checkmate."
Lux sighed as he looked at the chessboard looking for a way out. Seeing that there was none, he leaned back and scratched his head in frustration.
Eriol chuckled after seeing the frustrated look on the Half-Elf's face, making the latter glare at him hatefully.
"Let's put aside the Abyss Corruption talks for now," Eriol said. "Can you tell me what your short term goals are for the time being?"
"Short term goals?" Lux crossed his arms over his chest. "I've been too busy thinking about the tournament, that I shut out anything else from my mind. You can even say that my short term goal is winning the tournament. After that I will return to Elysium and continue my journey."
"I see…" Eriol smiled as he eyed the red-headed teenager in front of him that was quite different from the one he had met several months ago.
The Lux back then was on the verge of giving up, but now, he was filled with determination in winning the tournament and going to Elysium to continue his adventure.
"Say, Lux, after this tournament, Gilbert and the Elders of the Wildgarde Stronghold will definitely change their opinion about you," Eriol stated. "There is a chance that you will join the Storm Dragon Guild and become Nero's subordinate after the tournament ends."
Lux vehemently shook his head. "No way. I don't plan on becoming Nero's subordinate. The reason why I joined the tournament was to beat him and…"
"And you did it splendidly. But, this tournament is just a turning point in your life. After this, you will be placed in the spotlight and would be forced to take on some responsibilities, befitting of your achievements. That's not so bad, right?"
"Indeed. That ain't so bad."
Eriol smirked and gave Lux a knowing glance.
"However, the power of a single individual is not enough to save the world, Lux," Eriol commented. "If it were that easy, Max wouldn't have taken a gamble and founded the Heaven's Gate Project with me, alongside another God.
"The three of us formed the Trinity that bound Solais and Elysium together. Since Max is currently recuperating and out of the picture, only two Gods carry the sky over our shoulders and are preventing it from collapsing."
Eriol paused as he lifted the Pawn Chess Piece before looking at the Half-Elf in front of him.
"Because we are busy trying to ensure that Solais won't collapse in a short period of time, our hands are tied," Eriol explained. "This is why we need Pawns, like you, to become our foot soldiers in the fight to save Solais, by finding the solution in Elysium."
"Being called a pawn right in front of my face hurts a bit, you know?" Lux smiled bitterly. "Can't you sugarcoat it a bit to make it less depressing?"
"This is why we decided to choose a handsome, and dependable guy, like you, to help us save a dying world from destruction."
"That's much better."
Lux smiled as he nodded his head in satisfaction, making Eriol look at him in disdain.
"There is a question I've been meaning to ask you guys for a while now," Lux stared at the God of Games with a serious expression on his face. "Why don't you choose more people to participate in the Heaven's Gate Project? To be honest, I don't think I am able to handle this responsibility alone."
Eriol shook his head after hearing Lux's words. "It's not that we didn't want to add more people, it's because we can't. The more people we bring into this world, the faster its death progresses. Also, having more people doesn't necessarily mean that it will be better. If by chance, the people we summoned were to only complicate things, rather than fixing them, then they would just make things worse."
"Yes… just like the Hundred-Year-War. A war that was brought by the very same people whom we thought would save the world."
Lux's eyes widened in shock after hearing Eriol's words. If he were to interpret God's words correctly, it meant that they had already summoned people in the past, but they failed to meet the Gods' expectations.
"There are other people aside from me?" Lux asked. "Where are they now?"
"Dead is what I'd like to say, but in reality it's different," Eriol replied with a sigh. "When they first arrived, things were fine at the beginning. However, since they were given the so-called 'cheats', they abused their powers and started to make others submit to them. Those who refused would be subjugated by force, which had sparked the Hundred-Year-War in Solais.
"It also advanced the progress of the death of the world, which forced me to bind Elysium to it, in an attempt to slow the progress of its destruction."
Lux didn't interrupt Eriol's explanation and listened to it with full concentration. According to the God of Games, Solais was on the verge of becoming a dying world after the Hundred-Year-War took place, plunging the entire world into chaos.
Out of the twelve people that were summoned and were responsible for instigating the war, nine died, while three remained. These three tried to reverse the situation, but still failed in the end.
As a last resort, the world under Eriol's control, Elysium, bound itself to Solais, allowing the latter to get a breather.
The three people that remained had gone to Elysium in order to recuperate and regain their powers.
But, one of those three people had fallen prey to something that she had accidentally summoned to Elysium, and that was none other than the Abyssal Creatures.
They were the alien-like Monsters whose sole mission was to cause destruction to the world. Fortunately, after Solais and Elysium merged, the warriors of both worlds worked together to repel the Abyssal Armies, forcing them to return to the Abyss where they belonged.
However, since the pathway to the Abyss had already been opened, Abyssal Monsters would appear in Elysium from time to time, spreading havoc wherever they went.
"Although the Abyssal Corruption is a pain to deal with, most of the time, it doesn't lead to deaths when treated immediately,," Eriol stated. "But, those afflicted by it must rest for several days to fully recover. That is the only way to deal with the abyssal dregs that are still inside your body. So, just rest for now, okay?"
"You already know that I can't do that, right?" Lux shrugged. "If I don't fight in a few hours, Iris will be forced to marry someone she doesn't want to marry. I don't want that to happen, so I need to find a way to regain consciousness."
Eriol wagged his finger at Lux and gave him a mischievous smile. "If it's just regaining consciousness, I can do that. However, even if you regain your consciousness, the exhaustion your body feels will make you so drowsy that the moment you close your eyes, you will be off to Dreamland."
Lux blinked once then twice as he gazed at the God of Games, who had a playful smile on his face.
"Can you make me regain consciousness?" Lux asked.
"Of course, but I doubt that you will be able to stay awake for long," Eriol replied. "But, doing this feels like cheating. So, you'll have to do something for me when you return to Elysium."
"I knew it," Lux commented with a fed up look on his face. "There's no free lunch in this world."
"Exactly."
"So, what is it that you want me to do for you? As long as I am able to fight tomorrow's match, even for a brief moment, I will do as you say."
Eriol chuckled after hearing Lux's fed up statement.
"Since we already have an agreement I need you to do two things for me," Eriol said. "The first thing that you need to do is…"
