Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
I laughed out loud as I rested my head on Bella's shoulder; I had been having fun with the girls for the last hour inside our private platform, talking and partying amongst ourselves.
I had Bella on my lap, laughing happily. We'd been drinking alcohol with our immune systems down, so I could feel a pleasant buzz at the back of my head as the alcohol took effect.
My hands snaked around Bella's waist, and I held her tight as I laughed joyfully. After a while, a small alarm sounded. I just sighed, tightened my grip on Bella's waist, and looked at everyone.
"Okay, girls and Lucius, shall we begin?" I asked with a wide smile. I only received a few laughs and cheers from Rebecca; Bella even bounced excitedly on my lap, which only made me close my eyes in pleasure.
I sighed ruefully before moving and lifting Bella to her feet, then standing up. I quickly began to weave magic, lowering the privacy shields. Suddenly, all the music stopped abruptly throughout the Globe, and my image appeared and was replicated everywhere.
"Good Niiiight, everyone!!" I shouted excitedly. The alcohol might have affected me more than I expected, but I couldn't help but join in the excitement of the entire Distracted Globe. "This is your host and creator of the Distracted Globe, Serene Prince. I hope you're all having a great time!" I said with a wide smile. I heard the roar of hundreds of thousands of people, making me smile too.
"Ah! I'm glad you're having a good time," I said with a joyful sigh. "Today, we're celebrating a truly important milestone: the grand opening of Distracted Globe. The world's largest casino, the world's most exotic dance floor, and much more. I'm confident this is just the beginning, and I have something special in store for you."
"As you may or may not know, Distracted Globe has a few rules. The first is on your wrists: every time you use a teleportation circle, it will record your entry point, and you can only exit through the same place, so you can't sneak off to other locations."
"Secondly, due to the presence of underage teenagers on the dance floor, each gambling table and alcoholic beverage stand has an age limit that they cannot cross."
"And the third and most important point, Distracted Globe does not tolerate violence," I said seriously. "And as some of you have noticed, several have already been expelled and banned for a period of time."
"So far, I'm happy to see you all having fun dancing, gambling, drinking, enjoying the company, or whatever you want to do at Distracted Globe, it's all welcome."
"BUT!" I exclaimed, smiling mysteriously. "I am fully aware of the nature of the supernatural world. There is something inherent in us, and that is, that strength is above all else. There's nothing like a good fight. I, as a devil, someone who has practically created the Rating Games culture around that, have... prepared certain events for those people eager to test themselves or who want to see a good fight."
"For those who have noticed, there are six areas that are still covered. It's time you saw what I've prepared for you." With that, I clapped loudly. Six sections of the Distracted Globe began to shake and light up brightly as they uncovered themselves, revealing their interiors. "I present to you, the six arenas of the Distracted Globe!!" I exclaimed joyfully. I could hear roars; the crowd was much more excited now.
"Before you begin, let me explain a little about them," I said cheerfully, drawing everyone's attention once again. "Each arena is special in its own way; each one is located at a cardinal point of the Distracted Globe and has its own rules."
"First, we have The Maw, the hunting arena in the north!" I said, pointing to the arena that began to glow a bright, intense dark red. All my holograms and screens pointed in the correct direction. "The Maw is the arena where anyone can enter and face a monster, an exceptionally strong, aggressive, and dangerous beast! Or even robots that are creations of my beloved Tower. Don't underestimate them; they are dangerous in their own right! "
"The monsters and robots will match or surpass your strength, so you will have to fight with all your might to try to defeat them."
"To the south, there's The Deep, the survival arena!" I pointed in the right direction, and the arena lit up in a deep blue. "In it, you'll face monsters and weaker robots, but in greater numbers! It's geared towards endurance, facing wave after wave of monsters until you can't take it anymore!"
"Both arenas can be faced alone, or in a group, you decide and test your strength!!"
"Continuing east, we have The Equal Hand, the arena of balance!" The eastern arena glowed a dim white. "I know that fighting monsters and robots isn't the same as fighting other people, but it would be extremely boring to fight weaker people, or it would be too overwhelming to fight very strong ones."
"In The Equal Hand, both power levels will be measured, and the stronger person will have to wear special bracelets that will temporarily seal some of their powers. Raw power will be equalized, and speed, strength, stamina, and energy will be normalized! That means both will be completely equal; the only things that matter here are technique, intelligence, and experience!! If gods and humans want to fight on equal terms, they can!"
"At the other end, in the west, we have The Wild Orbit, the Arena of Chaos!" The arena glowed with an electric violet light. "In this arena, once again, all parameters will be equalized to the strength of a high-class devil! Even humans can gain a massive power bonus to fight in this arena!"
"But most importantly, multiple people can enter, and it's a free-for-all! 32 people will enter here, only one will leave as the winner! And there isn't just one level of difficulty for enemies, no, that would be too easy, so to keep things entertaining, the arena here is constantly changing!"
"Gravity, orientation, weather, terrain, the laws of physics—nothing is on your side in this arena. Gravity will disappear or increase hundreds of times in certain areas, the weather will change from a sunny day to a lava rainstorm, magic will be nullified in some places, or physical contact will be forbidden in others!"
"The universe isn't fair, and neither is this arena! But most importantly, there will be weapons on the ground, magic weapons, powerful swords, firearms that will destroy everything in their path, Sacred Gears, magical items, and anything else that might help you! All scattered throughout danger zones!"
"The combatants must decide... whether to risk their lives to gain power... or survive with what they already have! Or... steal it from their opponents! The decision is yours!"
"Now, let's move on to the last two arenas! In Nadir, at the bottom, we have The Hollow!" The arena glowed blood-red at its sides, while in the center, an absolute, almost smoky black appeared. "The Abyss Arena, the most dangerous arena, with no balance, no prestige, no defenses, no limits, an absolute no-holds-barred contest. In the first four arenas, everyone is guaranteed to come out alive, but here? Death is a very real consequence!"
"Only the most deranged and bloodthirsty will participate in this brutal Arena."
"And finally, the last Arena, located at the Zenith, at the top of the Distracted Globe, we have The Zenith, The Arena of Ascension!" I pointed towards the sky, and the arena glowed with an almost sacred gold. " If The Maw and The Deep aren't enough, if The Equal Hand or The Wild Orbit aren't a real challenge, then The Zenith is the ultimate test! "
"The participant will not only have to fight to get ahead, but will have to overcome tests, mental challenges, and truly powerful enemies; it is designed to test your skills, intelligence, and courage!"
"The arena features several challenges, each progressively more difficult than the last, each filled with enemies, traps, challenges, and complex terrain with modifiers that will demand careful planning and efficient combat!"
"Each room you enter will have a different objective to complete, which will be generated and changed progressively, and not only that, as you advance, you will be forced to choose modifiers; these will give you some bonuses, but also large penalties, exponentially increasing the challenge as you progress!"
"All the rules can be found in the respective arenas or on the website. Please take a look."
"And that, my dear people, is the crown jewel of Distracted Globe! Obviously, all bets are allowed and will be recorded by the appropriate staff at each arena! "
"Now, I know that just participating is enough for many of you, but we'll add one more incentive."
"In The Maw and The Deep, participants will earn a share of the profits depending on their performance during the fight. In The Equal Hand and The Wild Orbit, the winner will receive a larger percentage of the profits, while in The Hollow, the majority of the profits go to the winners!"
"And not only that, since competition is inherent to us, there will be a Leaderboard. You will be ranked according to your results, and at the end of the month, those who maintain a high position on the board will receive additional rewards, so be sure to participate!"
"Now, for The Zenith, things are a little different. In the previous ones, the winnings were monetary, but The Zenith is a little different: in addition to a large cash prize, there will also be other prizes to win! Depending on your performance, how many rooms you can cross, and how far you can go, you will be able to win different magical tools, weapons, or armor, Sacred Gears, Potions, or much more! There are even Phoenix Tears and equally valuable potions!
"Furthermore, although this is only for devils, unfortunately, I was able to negotiate it with the Satans, but The Zenith will be the only Arena where their results will be taken into account and counted when it comes to Class up!"
"So, have fun! All arenas are open for registration right now. Good luck!" I said cheerfully, catching my breath. Finally, my face disappeared, and the music started blasting again.
I could practically see everyone momentarily stop before a huge roar from hundreds of thousands of people was heard, at the same time as people began to move like a swarm as they approached the six arenas.
I smiled slightly. Had this really been necessary? Not at all. It was a complete waste and would definitely draw far more attention to the arenas, neglecting much of the dance club and the casino. But…
If I was going to build one of the greatest attractions in the supernatural world, I would do it completely and thoroughly. I would make Distracted Globe the entertainment center of the supernatural world.
Bella and Rebecca were the ones who gave me the idea. Bella wasn't really interested in dance floors and the casino, while Rebecca was able to enjoy both, but only occasionally.
They both wanted more action, more violence, more adrenaline. And I was definitely whipped enough to take their requests into account, and after a few minutes of thought, I came up with the idea of creating the Arenas.
The Maw and The Deep utilize monsters I stole from the Dungeon in Orario and GLaDOS's robots. Between Adam Smasher's Dragoon frame, David's gravity cyber-skeleton, and all the robots from Horizon, I just needed to make different adjustments to magically improve them and make them strong enough to pose more than enough of a challenge for most opponents.
It was a shame I couldn't steal the Rex Monsters; I really had no idea what would happen to the dungeon if I did, not to mention the fact that it took too long for those kinds of monsters to regenerate, so I had to... improvise.
Giving them a large number of magic stones increased their power, but the strongest ones were the monsters I had enhanced by imbuing them with The Darkness or The Light. I still hadn't been able to recreate The Nightmares of The Darkness.
They were apparitions, creations of The Darkness that manifested as enemies from the past to exploit victims' trauma and worst fears. But I was working on it; it would be a way to create powerful enemies.
The Equal Hand and The Wild Orbit were classic PvP arenas; the former was a balanced arena, while the latter was a classic Battle Royale. Both used various bracelets with Divine Dividing or Twice Critical to equalize the players' powers. There was also an eye robot that had one eye partially possessing the Six Eyes.
It didn't possess all its abilities, but it could accurately measure people's magic and power. It would then calculate how many bracelets a person should wear. I had even intentionally created weaker versions of Divine Dividing and Twice Criticals that functioned at varying percentages to bring everything to the same level as precisely as possible.
The Hollow was also the third PvP arena. It wasn't originally intended, but both Rebecca and Bella argued that there was a group who preferred to fight with all their might, without holding back or safeguards, so yes, The Hollow was created.
Finally, The Zenith, with the previous five, already had practically everything it needed covered, so it needed something more… elegant, or grandiose. Something that would grab attention.
My main idea was to do it as a condensed version of the Triwizard Tournament, or something similar, and I eventually came up with something I remembered fondly and with a lot of frustration.
Trials of Sekhema and Trials of Chaos from Path of Exile 2. So The Zenith drew heavily on them. A series of tests of combat, endurance, ingenuity, and a lot of frustration.
GLaDOS had complete control over it. The ability to create vast quantities of difficult tests for eager and willing supernatural beings? GLaDOS definitely wouldn't pass up the opportunity.
All the arenas are located in the dimensional rift. Even with how large Distracted Globe was, there definitely wasn't enough room for something big enough for The Wild Orbit and The Zenith in here. The former needed terrain large enough for 32 people to enter comfortably without immediately crowding together, and the Zenith needed at least a dozen chambers capable of constantly changing.
So, each arena in Distracted Globe was really a registration center, a betting center, a teleportation center, and a place where dozens of screens displayed, monitored, and tracked all participants.
"So, who wants to go have some fun?" I asked everyone. Most of them cheered happily. "Bella, Beca, you can go to the arenas, I know you want to. I'll have to do a few rounds first; there are some people I need to say hi to."
"See you on the dance floor in an hour?" I asked them both. They both smiled broadly and sadistically.
"You're the best," Bella purred huskily, kissing me softly on the lips before pulling away. Then Rebecca made me lean forward and kissed me hard, too.
"See you on the dance floor!" Rebecca said cheerfully, then she and Bella stared at each other, smiled, and dashed off toward the Arenas. I huffed and shook my head, looking at the others.
"You all have fun, I have to go say hello, there's no need for you to come with me," I told the others.
"I'll go with you," Ravel said immediately without hesitation. I opened my mouth. "It's something I want to do, don't worry." Ravel interrupted me. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow before sighing and nodding.
"As you wish, my dear." I said with a smile. I looked at the others.
"I'm going to dance!" Enid squealed, bouncing in her seat, then looked excitedly at the others. Lucy giggled slightly.
"I'll go with you, Enid," Lucy said playfully. Enid squealed and hugged her from the side. Lucy returned the hug with one hand before looking at Riveria. "You're coming with us, Riveria. You seem lost. We'll make sure we stay far enough away from the others," Lucy said with a smile. Enid nodded quickly.
"We'll do it, we can go to the different bubbles and find one you like!" Enid said excitedly. Riveria smiled awkwardly before nodding.
"…very well, I'll be in your care." Riveria sighed, Enid smiled broadly, and the three of them flew off toward the platform.
"Lucius and I will go to one of the bubbles where they play slower, more appropriate music before we meet up with you," Narcissa said, clinging to Lucius's arm. Lucius just smiled affectionately at Narcissa before they both walked away.
"I'll go find Ottar and Horn," Freya said with a smile. "It's about time I went to find them, and what better way to introduce them to the supernatural world? I'll make sure to fill them in before you return, then we'll all join up." I simply nodded and created a portal to Folkvangr. And I left it open. No one could enter this platform, so there was no problem. Freya nodded in my direction and stepped through the portal.
"I'll stay here," GLaDOS said without any emotion. "I agreed to come, not to participate." She said it easily, and I snorted in amusement.
"Have fun with the participants, GLaDOS," I said with a smile. GLaDOS smiled sadistically, but I didn't say anything. I shook my head, extended my hand toward Ravel, she wrapped my arm around her, and then we began to fly.
This would be really tedious. I knew the Satans were here, as well as Azazel, but there were also several representatives and groups from other pantheons and factions. I also had to meet some members of important houses. I knew the Gremory and the Sitri were around, but there were many more.
I'd have to say hello to everyone. Even so, I'd just stop by to say hello and do a couple of rounds; after all, today was my bachelorette party, and I wasn't planning on spending the whole night greeting people. I'd finish my greetings and go back to dancing with Bella and the others.