Tournament of the Gods

The First Challenge

Zhangshun Shan could feel his body shredding away, he had felt his body fade several times while he was in Excalibur but this was different, as he felt his body shred, he felt like it was being replaced by another skin but this skin felt different as if he was getting into a more enhanced body, Zhangshun Shan looked around him, he could see Ashley, her face was a mask of surprises, she was amazed at all that was happening but he was glad she wasn't panicking or anything.

"According to what Rui Hongcha and Jumoeng Sheng said, we should just be dealing with 8 participants, I wonder who the orb chose," Zhangshun Shan thought as he looked around him, to his surprise, he could see the rest of the people he saw before getting transported, he saw Mui Li, his two ex wives, Wenren Yu, Jumoeng Sheng, Rui Hongcha and Xi Hing.  As his eyes locked with Xi Hing's one, anger crept on Xi Hing's face as he makes a flapping like movement towards Zhangshun Shan, Zhangshun Shan looked around, the environment was strange, it felt like there were lines etched on the very surface around him, the lines were of different colors, some of which he was ignorant of as there were colours that were not even introduced to humanity, the lines amazed Zhangshun Shan as he had never seen anything so bizarre, it really was beautiful and unique.  The others except Xi Hing who was still driven by anger had looked at the lines and each marvelled at the inexplicable and incomprehensible wonders of the strangely coloured lines.

"You brat!!!" Xi Hing cried aloud, his face red with anger as he thrust his right hand forward as if to punch Zhangshun Shan, Zhangshun Shan grinned as he stretched his right arm forward, he held the fist of Xi Hing which was coming towards him as he gave his most demeaning smile.  "Let's not lose focus," As he said that, the anger on Xi Hing's face deepened as his eyes were contorted with hatred.  "I know you think because you have ties with one of the gods, then that means all your problems are settled but look at all of this, the orb is supposed to accommodate just eight participants and yet, it took all nine of us in, I don't know how good your observational skills is but at the moment you squeezed the orb, I felt a distinctive aura of one more individual joining the mix, whosoever God you are having an alliance with, it's obvious he doesn't see you as no more than a pawn, if you are any smarter than Mui Li, you should have noticed." As Zhangshun Shan said that, Mui Li who was metres away from them squeezed his face in anger towards Zhangshun Shan's direction.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Xi Hing thought to himself.  "Zhangshun Shan is right, I wonder why of all times while I was in the underworld that the God of mischief, Sun Wukong would come to meet me and offer me supremacy over the six Omniverses, it's obvious he's using me as a pawn in his unknown master plan, I am presently hopeless against him, the only way I can take advantage of him is by teaming up with Zhangshun Shan but after I have used Zhangshun Shan to achieve my goals, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him, he is much too dangerous to be left alive, he would never accept being lorded over by anyone and what I desire is to rule and have supremacy over all." Xi Hing's face softened as he looked over at Zhangshun Shan.  "I know of your achievement, you killed Renkui."

"Which of the gods told you about that? Is it the one you are in collaboration with?"

"None of them, it was obvious," Xi Hing says.  "When you complete Excalibur, you gain an audience with Renkui himself and knowing you, you won't accept being any one's subordinate so it's either you killed Renkui or Renkui killed you, seeing that you are still alive, it's obviously the former that took place, there's a lot of favors I can gain amongst the god if I dispense this information as they currently seek and want to avenge whosever killed the Archery god."

"Were you saying something," Zhangshun Shan began yawning.  "I lost you at the part when you were at blah blah blah."

"You brat!!" Xi Hing shouted at him but soon, he noticed Zhangshun Shan making several gestures with his fingers.  He knew that gesture, it was how Mui Li and he planned to communicate while facing Zhangshun Shan in a place called the Labyrinth in Excalibur, they had been throwing hand gestures in the Labyrinth, Xi Hing had thought Zhangshun Shan hadn't noticed but how wrong was he, the white-haired Devil had actually noticed but he didn't try and infer that at that point meaning Zhangshun Shan was actually planning to use that knowledge later on in the future as if he actually knew they would have to partner up.   "This individual is really a devil," Xi Hing thought in fear, what Zhangshun Shan had been saying by moving his fingers were. "I had to say that, we are actually being monitored, I resorted to this kind of communication as Mui Li and you formed it privately meaning that even the gods have no knowledge of this kind of communication, they might think it's sign language and if they try and decode it according to the megrosto different sign languages all over the six Omniverses, they would fall into confusion, doesn't this area look suspicious to you, it's like a form of screening, see how parts of our body are being replaced, the gods intend to use this to access and read our memories completely and also in order for the gods not to notice that this is actually a form of communication, I need you to make your face as expressionless as possible."

"But if that's the case, then you are completely damned, how can you hide your memories as you truly killed Renkui."

"Don't worry about that, I have ways to hide my memories as memories are really all just information of the soul based on perception from the senses of the human body, Krigo allows the manipulation of not just soulic energy but even the soul itself, I have already manipulated my memories of my every meeting with Renkui as if they never happened, the only reason why I can still tell you this even though I don't remember is because I already conditioned my soul in doing so."

"What about me?  I know you killed Renkui, won't that affect you?"

"No, that's just a speculation, you don't have any real memory of that happening, therefore, it's useless as really every human has had an infinite amount of speculations each can be true or false but so long there are no memories to prove it, then the validity becomes null, enough about that, you were trying to strike a deal with me, what's that?"

"You really are a brat, you just practically made me know that my only bargaining chip is worthless."

"Not necessarily, there are ways you can still even use that speculation of yours to your own advantage but I wouldn't tell you but anyways, I am willing to strike a deal with you."

"Why, aren't you the great Zhangshun Shan who requires the help of no one and can do everything on his own."

"Correction, I can EASILY do everything on my own but it's more interesting collaborating and fighting with others, besides our other participants will be from different Omniverses, they will have different cultivation, abilities, powers and some might even have better knowledge of Krigo than even us, also, Jumoeng Sheng, Sui Wenyan, Wenren Yu and Qui Si matter a whole lot to me, at the moment, you control my two wives and Wenren Yu, knowing what happened to all the soldiers under your control back when you were a king in Baselda kingdom, you will bring their lives to ruin and I can't bear to lose them a second time."

"You really are a cocky bastard, I am always amazed at how you always have your way, alright then, what do you propose?"

"We form an alliance, we watch each other's backs until we have won this tournament, when we do, you are free to try and turn your back on me but know something, I would have restored the memories of Qui Si, Sui Wenyan and Wenren Yu by then and trust me, you wouldn't want to be alive by the time they have regained their sense of self."

"I have never doubted you but I doubt you can even accomplish what you just said you would."

"Well then, prepare for a disappointment."

Throughout their discussion using finger gestures, Zhangshun Shan and Xi Hing had kept neutral expressions on their faces making it impossible for anyone to notice that they were actually communicating.

"Zan!!!" Ashley screamed in Zhangshun Shan's direction as if she had just noticed him.  "Where the hell are we?"

Before Zhangshun Shan could reply her, the lines around them began to merge into one and soon, it formed something like a glowing white swirling portal, it absorbed all of them in.

Their bodies were catapulted at a speed beyond comprehension so much that they didn't have time to observe what they were actually passing through, all they noticed was that they were accelerating forward through a pulling force.  Soon, they arrived in a strange plane, the entire environment had different shades of blue, there were swirling portals around located above.

Ashley was the first to get up from the floor as she looked around her.  "Where the hell am I?" She thought as she looked around.  "I feel lighter, I could have sworn this was outer space," Ashley thought as she looked around.  "But this isn't how it should look based on my study, I am in a place even more bizarre."

"Ashley," She heard Zhangshun Shan's come behind her, afterwards, she could feel his warm tough palm resting on her right shoulder, before she could reply, Zhangshun Shan continued.  "I don't know how you feel about all that happened, how I quickly pushed you into the black box to learn Krigo, how I have endangered your life in more ways than one? I am sorry about it all, I wish there was a way I could return you back to your world in the hands of your father but I can't, from here, it's going to get far more intense than anything you have ever seen so far, look around." Ashley looked around the surroundings, she realized there were groups of eight scattered everywhere and she couldn't count the groups as they seemed to be endless.   "Each Omniverse contains an infinite number of multiverses, each of those multiverses are separated according to their dimensional plane of existence ranging all the way from 1D all the way to infinite-dimensional and each of those multiverses in turn contain infinite parallel and alternate universes and each universe has to at least provide eight participants per universe, the fact that only our universe has nine participants and I am sure there's someone else who came from our universe even though he's currently incognito, this shows that one of the gods if not more is fixated on our universe, you have learnt the basics and core of Krigo, I am pretty sure you would be able to hold your own."

"I haven't gone out on a lotta dates but you sure do have a weird definition of dates, don't you? I mean am I not supposed to be eating, laughing and looking forward to get laid." Ashley smiles as she turns towards Zhangshun Shan, Zhangshun Shan grinned back, Ashley looked behind Zhangshun Shan, she could see Xi Hing, Mui Li, Zhangshun Shan's wives, Wenren Yu, Jumoeng Sheng and Rui Hongcha discussing, Mui Li and Sui Wenyan seemed to have a disagreeable expression on their faces but every other one of them wore a blank expression.  "I thought they were fighting moments ago," Ashley thought to herself.  "Are they making up now?" Ashley focused her attention on Zhangshun Shan as she smiled "It's cool, as much as I hate to admit it, I have never felt as terrified as I have earlier but also, I have also never felt more alive, I am in, at least, this is better than doing Algebra or nearly getting r***d by my father."

Five figures suddenly appears in the center, every of those groups turned towards them as the five figures appeared to be at least 100 metres tall, everyone who was there knew who those five figures where, they were the five gods, Xiwangmu, Sun Wukong, Pangu, Change'e and Guanyin, each of them were brighter than the sun, they shone so bright that their appearance couldn't be made out, the only way they knew which God was which was because it was revealed to them in their minds.

A large booming voice spoke which seemed to shake the entire plane.

#THIS IS THE FIRST TOURNAMENT OF THE GODS WHICH IS AVAILABLE TO PARTICIPANTS FROM EVERY UNIVERSE IN EVERY MULTIVERSE FROM EVERY OMNIVERSE, THE REASON FOR IT IS TO FIND A NEW PERSON TO REPLACE RENKUI, AS YOU ALL MIGHT HAVE NOTICED, BEFORE YOU APPEARED HERE, YOU WERE IN A PLANE OF LINES WHERE IT FELT LIKE YOUR BODIES WERE DISINTEGRATING AND STILL BEING REPLACED, IT'S AS A RESULT OF THE PLANE OF EXISTENCE WHERE YOU ALL ARE, AS BODIES THAT ARE STILL OPERATING ON DIMENSIONAL PLANES OF EXISTENCE WILL INSTANTLY BE DESTROYED, AS YOU ALL KNOW, THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLANES OF EXISTENCES, THE FIRST WHICH IS THE BASIC IS DIMENSIONAL PLANE OF EXISTENCE WHICH IS FURTHER DIVIDED INTO AN INFINITE NUMBER, DIMENSIONAL PLANE OF EXISTENCE IS WHERE INFERIOR BEINGS SUCH AS YOU CREATURES FALL UNDER, THE OTHER IS AGRANSHIO PLANE OF EXISTENCE WHERE HIGHER BEINGS SUCH AS THE GODS AND JADE EMPEROR COME UNDER, IT'S DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS, 1A, 2A AND 3A, ONLY THE JADE EMPEROR IS 3A, THE REST OF US GODS ARE 2A BEINGS AND WHERE YOU ALL STAND IS A 1A PLANE, THE LAST PLANE OF EXISTENCE IS KNOWN AS ABOVE EXISTENCE, IT'S INTRICACIES ISN'T EVEN COMPLETELY REVEALED TO US BUT TO OUR BEST OF KNOWLEDGE, ONLY TWO BEINGS IN THE WHOLE OF THE WORLD OF IMAGINARY EXISTENCE AKA FICTION AND REALITY(THE WORLD WERE I, THE WRITER IS FROM ALSO INCLUDING YOU WRITERS) HAVE CROSSED INTO IT, THEIR NAMES ARE LARIAS AND DICKSON REYES, THE FIRST STEP FOR THIS TOURNAMENT TO MOVE FORWARD IS TO MAKE THE MEGROSTO AMOUNT THAT YOU ALL ARE COMPRISED OFF TO BECOME NUMERABLE BUT A TEAM MUST FIRST GO AS THE PARTICIPANTS ARE MYSTERIOUS AND UNTRUSTWORTHY...#

As Ashley heard that, she could feel her heart beating louder.  "I really hope that's not our team, what am I saying, it definitely can't be our team, the probability of us being chosen is one over infinity multiplied by infinity so we definitely can't be chosen, I mean the odds are just goddamn too small, sucks be to whosever that universe is, trying to face off an infinite amount of universes would be so impossible and hectic, I almost feel bad for them."

#...AND THE TEAM WHICH MUST BE ELIMINATED IS NONE OTHER THAN THE 679, 285, 178, 632, 015, 428, 963, 278, 317, 610, 861, 507, 914, 794, 728, 601, 519, 520, 193, 361, 073, 510, 394, 692,..." Ashley began to snore as she heard series of numbers as they had originally began from six hundred and seventy nine vigintillion.  "This team is really in for it, I wonder how any one is gonna know which universe is that." But just then, the number the voice began to speak stopped and Ashley just couldn't help but feel that the universe which was actually being called was actually hers, in order to confirm her suspicion, she looked around and every group's attention was now focused on hers, she could feel her body trembling at the unwanted attention, slowly, she leaned over to Zhangshun Shan's direction.

#...890TH UNIVERSE OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MULTIVERSE FROM THE FIRST OMNIVERSE."

Ashley opened her mouth wide, even though she's didn't hear all the numbers, she knew the universe in question was actually hers and the way everyone looked at her showed that her hunch was correct.  "Th...they d.. don't m...mean our uni... universe, right" she mutters.

"Ooh, they definitely do," Zhangshun Shan ends with a sly smile.

"Oooh f**k," Ashley frowns.