Chapter 97: Living Denier

The repulsed spur Rachel typically felt due to her pride didn’t scratch the same with the insult as she casually leaned against the pillar, leg dangling off the side of the platform as the Black Moon filled her with a malicious, cruel force. The ruthless strings of misfortune guided her heart as she chuckled at his words.

"By all means, let’s skip this little game and end this mediocrity. Do you think people are entertained by such one-sided displays of boastful fights? No, these gods want blood, torture...fear. They didn’t come here to see you prance around in your short-shorts, heh, no matter how fine you look in them."

Dionysus’ scowl at her insult to his games turned into a confused smirk at her last comment, laughter following. "How does it feel being hit on by a nightmare hare?"

Conner rubbed his blood-stained chin. "Off...in a good kind of way."

Laughter came from the crowd, breaking the tension as the Black Moon faded away. Rachel’s transformation slowly reverted; her Lunar Pool was slightly tainted, but it wasn’t enough to maintain the nightmarish form.

Rotating her stiff neck and working around her jaw, Rachel cleared her throat. She plucked at her ripped and stretched sports bra and running shorts, punctured by the barb-like fur she’d grown when shapeshifting. "Can I get some help, Eostre?"

The disgruntled woman waved her hand, sending a fragrant scent on the wind that encircled her and restored the fabric. "Maybe you should consider getting stronger clothes..."

"Maybe you should pass the thought along. Is it finally my turn, Dionysus? I’m getting bored with how fast that battle was; I couldn’t even check out the level I got before coming here," she complained. "What do all of you think? You want stakes, a real challenge! Am I right?!"

Conner frowned as she downplayed his battle; due to his near-impregnable defenses while connected to the earth, he was all but invincible to their attacks. Even if given the answers on how to defeat him from Rachel’s imposed restriction, they hadn’t managed to stop his rampage with his slippery, water-like nature. It was an impressive offense and defense.

The lesser god clapped his hands, bringing Conner and her to center stage as the dimensional bubble he’d created vanished with the mangled corpses. "Are you trying to increase the Challenge Rating, Rachel?"

Rachel’s lips twisted into a smirking leer. "Am I right to assume the rewards and items available increase by Challenge Rating?"

"They do," Dionysus confirmed, walking around them and gesturing at the mumbling crowd. "Has the Black Moon awakened some masochistic urges, my long-eared gladiator? Are you sure you want to increase the difficulty after Conner obtained such an easy victory? Could you have done as well as my champion?"

Squaring up to the taller legend with the muscular body of a god, Rachel gave him a testing look. "Absolutely. Why don’t we make this fun?"

"What do you suggest?" Conner mused, returning her stare with a crooked smile while holding up one of his solar gauntlets, shimmering with an inner light. "If you roll wrong, I could really penalize you."

"Isn’t that the fun of the game?" she returned, crimson eclipse-like eyes holding his gaze. "You all saw how a unique moon affects me. But how would a unique type of earth or water affect you? Why not test things out against some of the more powerful monster options? Wouldn’t it be fun to roll the dice and see the options?"

"Ho-ho!" Dionysus turned to the crowd. "An interesting proposal! Chance and danger around every corner; the essence of this game! I can already feel the tension! Do we agree that in each location, a potential unique moon will show up at random, while a unique land and sea are given to my champion? Their effects will also be strengthened due to the higher Challenge Rating! What do you say?!"

Roars and chants filled the arena; she had the better deal in this proposal since Conner’s item would be at a lower Challenge Rating. Of course, she had to prove she was capable of surviving at this unknown tier, and Dionysus already had a bone to pick with her rejecting him.

"You have spoken!" Dionysus laughed, directing their attention to a numbered pointer from one to three, currently at the lowest tier. "You wanted this, Rachel!" The thunderous shifting of gears that moved brought the pointer to the middle. "Challenge Rating 2 has been selected! Now, we let fate decide the ord—what a twist?!"

A die fell out of the sky into Rachel’s expectant hand as a colorful pink, orange, and white tie-dye bunny popped up in the crowd selection seat.

"Huh?! Am I chosen? I’m the chosen one! I’m so lucky! Ahhh! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Rachel turned to her side to chuckle at the cheering and dancing rabbit, kicking his feet and showing just what kind of an unusual guy he was.

"First, first—I’d like to show my thanks and gratitude to my most beloved, beautiful, and kind mistress, Lady Eostre! You’re so beautiful! Lady Eostre! Ahhh! I’m chosen!"

The autumn-haired woman showed a soft, entertained smile at her servant’s excitement, which became strained as he went on.

"Oh! Oh! And the anime overlords that teach me so many essential life lessons from the satellite dishes the Earth bunnies send to the moon—glory to thighs and ’absolute territory’—and all the pretty cosplayers across the multiverses that bless me with their powerful energies! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Of course, he’s an anime fan. Rachel internally groaned and laughed before a heart-stopping realization hit her upon hearing the word ’cosplay.’ Wait...

Dionysus stared around at the many anime, cosplay, and images of Eostre the bunny projected throughout the stadium. Rachel could hear most of the crowd degrading or laughing at the rabbit, but he didn’t seem to care at all what they thought of him or his interests; he was secure in himself, at least in this.

"Roll your dice!" the host yelled.

She turned back to Conner, holding his gaze while tossing it to the side as he mirrored her in the opposite direction.

Conner: 19

Rachel: 2

Entertained laughter came from the crowd as Dionysus held his die while staring at Moongmor, who hopped forward and was having trouble picking up his die with his paws.

"I got—oops, uh-heh, let me try with my back feet—heh, it keeps slipping, uh..."

Rachel giggled and walked toward him, tiles of light appearing where she strode. "Having a bit of bad luck, Moongmor?"