Hey everyone, I'm back! Well, the reason it's taken me this long to post a new chapter is that I had to take a few weeks off, just like I mentioned before. The second reason is that I actually deleted and rewrote a lot of chapters.
Initially, I planned to have Cedric wake up and receive the rewards for killing the Ethereals immediately (which would have been different from the current version), but... it felt a bit boring for my taste? So, I ended up changing quite a lot of things.
The scope of this fanfic was originally just limited to ZZZ, but starting with this chapter, I've expanded everything to a multiversal scale. That said, the multiversal elements are still a long way from being explored(like really long and it would lean more towards Cedric traveling to another world rather than the other way around.)
Anyway, that's it! Thanks for waiting, everyone.
…
…
…
White.
That was the first thing, and the absolute only thing, that surrounded Cedric's consciousness as his heavy eyelids slowly drifted open.
He blinked.
His dark lashes cast faint shadows as he painstakingly adjusted to the pure, unblemished light that stretched endlessly in every conceivable direction.
There was no cracked, crumbling concrete ceiling of the subterranean subway station threatening to cave in on his battered chest.
There was no bone-chilling cold creeping into his open wounds.
There was no chaotic, deafening roar of grotesque monsters clamoring to tear his flesh apart.
There was no scent of blood, ozone, or decaying energy filling his lungs.
And, most importantly of all—there was no pain.
The silence here was absolute.
It was so profound that it made a person feel entirely isolated, suspended in the vast emptiness of the cosmos.
Cedric slowly sat up.
His movements were fluid, completely free from the crushing gravity of his physical injuries.
He looked down at his hands.
They were completely whole.
His pale skin was pristine, his long fingers devoid of a single scratch or speck of dried blood.
He reached up with his right hand—the exact same hand that had been violently chewed into a pulpy nightmare just moments ago.
He touched his left shoulder.
It was perfectly intact, the muscles smooth and unbothered beneath his shirt.
He ran his palms down his thighs.
The jagged, terrifying fractures that had paralyzed him were simply gone.
His body felt entirely weightless, like a ghost lingering long after a violent storm had passed.
He let his purple eyes flutter half-closed.
The final memories of the living world drifted through his mind like a monochrome movie played in slow motion.
The devastating impact of his final attack.
The blinding, apocalyptic explosion of the enemy's core.
The shockwave that completely shattered his ribs.
And finally, the suffocating darkness swallowing his last breath as he lay against the cold concrete floor.
'I'm dead... again.'
Cedric thought to himself.
The realization washed over him quietly.
There was no screaming.
There was no desperate denial.
There was no frantic searching for a way back to the land of the living.
Just a heavy, quiet resignation.
The contract he had made with the entity in the casino was for sixty years.
And he had died in the very first month.
Now, he supposed, The Dealer had summoned him here to finalize the contract.
He was here to toss him into the eternal oblivion they had originally agreed upon.
BWOOOP.
A low, resonant electronic chime echoed through the nothingness.
It was a sharp, vibrating contrast to the absolute quiet.
Ten meters away, a heavy mahogany door with a gleaming brass handle abruptly materialized out of thin air.
It stood freely, supported by nothing but the white void itself.
Cedric stood up.
He brushed imaginary dust off his faded black t-shirt, taking a slow, steadying breath.
He reached out, his fingers wrapping around the cold metal.
He turned the brass handle, pushed the heavy wood, and stepped through the threshold.
CRASH! FWOOOOSH.
Instantly, the roaring, rhythmic impact of ocean waves assaulted his eardrums.
A warm gust of wind carrying the sharp tang of sea salt whipped his untamed black hair across his face.
The sunlight was so impossibly bright that Cedric had to squeeze his eyes shut, raising a hand to shield his face.
There was no casino.
Beneath his sneakers, he felt the soft, shifting warmth of fine white sand.
He was standing on a pristine tropical beach.
The sky above was a flawless, vibrant azure, completely unblemished by a single cloud.
Cedric lowered his hand slowly, his purple eyes widening as he took in the vast expanse of sparkling blue water.
The sheer scale of it, stretching infinitely to the horizon, stole his breath away.
'So... this is the ocean.'
He had never actually seen it before.
In his previous life, his only memory associated with the beach was the agonizing loss of his mother—a memory of rain, crunching metal, and blinding fi-.
"WELCOME BACK!!!!"
A booming shout shattered the peaceful quiet.
From beneath a massive, blue-and-white striped beach umbrella, a familiar figure bounded up.
It was The Dealer.
But he was not wearing his immaculate, shadowy silk suit.
Instead, the man sported neon-orange floral board shorts and a casually unbuttoned white linen shirt.
A pair of oversized, mirrored sunglasses shielded his glowing eyes as he casually swirled a bright blue tropical cocktail.
Clink-clink.
The ice cubes hit the glass as he strolled forward, offering a bright, overly enthusiastic smile.
"You really know how to dance, huh?"
The Dealer chuckled loudly, his tone filled with genuine appraisal and amusement.
"Taking down an entire pack of monsters and an Elite mutant with that weak-ass body?"
"I mean, structurally speaking, you had the durability of wet tissue paper."
"That was quite the show, kid."
Cedric let out a quiet, long exhale, pushing his hands deep into his pockets.
He trudged through the deep sand, his sneakers sinking with every step, heading toward the shade of the umbrella.
He sank heavily into a canvas beach chair right beside The Dealer.
"I am dead, aren't I?"
Cedric asked quietly, looking out at the rolling waves.
The Dealer clicked his tongue, taking a slow, dramatic sip from his curly pink straw.
Sluuuuurp.
"Well, obviously,"
The Dealer said smoothly, not missing a beat, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up onto a small cooler.
"Human bodies aren't exactly built to survive being used as a battering ram against highly condensed enemy cores."
"You should have seen the state of your corpse."
"It was a mess. A total disaster."
Cedric closed his eyes.
The phantom ache of his broken bones seemed to echo in the dark corners of his mind.
"I see,"
"My journey ended fast. Faster than I thought."
"And it seems… I'm about to be erased from existence?"
The Dealer sat perfectly still, watching Cedric intently through his dark, mirrored lenses.
"I can press the 'Delete' button right now if you really want,"
The Dealer mused, swirling his drink.
"But before I process the final paperwork and send you to the void, humor me."
"Give me a brief customer service review."
"Those few days of your 'free trial' in the new world... how was the experience?"
"…My experience?"
Cedric kept his eyes closed.
He didn't want to think about it.
But memories flashed through his mind anyway, vivid and uncontrollably warm.
A cunning, money-obsessed woman named Nicole, who complained endlessly about debts and expenses.
Yet, she hid a fiercely protective, surprisingly soft heart beneath her sharp tongue.
A loud, dramatic metal man named Billy with a pair of revolvers and a goofy, almost childish obsession with fictional heroes.
But he was an unwaveringly dependable shield when things went wrong, always stepping in front of danger.
A bright, overly curious girl named Belle, radiating an infectious, stubborn warmth that was impossible to ignore.
A calm, steady woman named Wise who balanced her out, managing the flow of information with quiet precision and a gentle demeanor.
A girl with white hair named Anby, who always wore a completely blank expression and analyzed the world with a bizarre, robotic logic.
She treated the most trivial, everyday things—like a burger—as matters of absolute importance.
A lethargic girl with a shark tail named Ellen, effortlessly intimidating, perpetually bored, and fiercely guarded.
She projected an aura of constant, sleepy annoyance, as if everything in the world was a chore… but she was unexpectedly gentle.
A simple, cheerful mechanical creature named Eous, communicating only in happy electronic beeps and simple digital expressions on its screen, offering a bizarrely comforting, pure loyalty.
And finally... the steady, warm heartbeat of the unhatched eggs in the dark.
The feeling of holding them, of protecting them.
"…"
He didn't want to give a long speech.
He didn't know how to articulate the massive, tangled knot in his chest.
"It was... loud,"
Cedric finally said, his voice barely above a whisper, cracking slightly.
"A lot of trouble. Constant noise."
"But..."
He opened his eyes, looking at the endless, sparkling blue horizon.
"I don't think I hated it."
"When I was with them, the silence wasn't there."
"That's… all."
He leaned his head back against the chair.
"Just do what you have to do."
Then Cedric closed his eyes and waited for the end.
…
…
…
"Pfft."
Cedric looked up slightly.
The Dealer was hunched over in his beach chair, having clamped one hand forcefully over the mouth.
His broad shoulders were trembling violently.
A low, muffled snort escaped the man, followed by a strained, high-pitched wheeze.
The Dealer's face was turning visibly red under his sunglasses as he desperately tried to maintain his serious, godly facade.
He bit his own knuckle, his whole body shaking with the massive effort of holding the laughter back.
And then, he completely lost the battle.
"Pfft— BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The Dealer threw his head back and roared, a booming, belly-deep guffaw that echoed loudly across the water, shaking the very air.
He laughed so hard he nearly slid right out of his chair, clutching his stomach and kicking his legs in the sand.
Cedric frowned deeply, a spark of genuine confusion breaking through his heavy melancholy.
"What?"
The Dealer lowered his mirrored sunglasses, his glowing purple eyes sparkling with pure, unadulterated amusement as he gasped for air.
"Oh, kid... You are too easy,"
The Dealer wheezed, pointing a trembling finger at Cedric's confused face.
"You really bought the whole dramatic death speech!"
"Right now, your physical body is lying in an Intensive Care Unit."
"You are wrapped up in white bandages like a mummy, sleeping soundly in a medically induced coma."
Cedric froze.
He stared at the man, his purple eyes widening in shock.
"But my... my injuries."
"Yeah yeah, they were fatal."
"They would have killed a normal human ten times over,"
The Dealer nodded, finally wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, his tone shifting from playful mockery to something bordering on reverent.
"To be completely honest, even I thought you were going to die right there on that concrete. I was already preparing the deletion paperwork."
The Dealer leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"But who would have thought your egg loved you that much?"
He continued, his voice softer, more serious now.
"When you were taking your last breaths, that little creature felt your fading life force."
"It instinctively forced itself to hatch prematurely, violently shattering its own shell just to protect you, acting on pure, primal instinct."
"And thanks to that absolute miracle of willpower, your very first quest was officially marked as complete the moment it was born."
"The reward from that quest—the [Physique of a Pokémon World Resident]—is exactly what pulled you back from the brink."
"Your body is currently utilizing the ambient energy of that world as raw fuel, aggressively knitting your shattered bones and torn organs back together."
"It will take time, a lot of time, but you are going to make a full recovery."
Cedric sat completely paralyzed.
He was alive.
"…"
"Then... why am I here?"
Cedric asked, his voice a bit thick, though he tried his best to keep it steady.
"If my body is healing, shouldn't my consciousness be resting?"
"Because resting is boring!"
The Dealer grinned wildly, standing up and stretching his arms high toward the sky.
"You survived a suicide mission, but the healing process is going to keep you locked in that coma for quite a while."
"Your brain needs stimulation, or it'll rot in the dark."
"And more importantly..."
The Dealer lowered his arms, a manic glint in his eye.
"You've drawn the attention of me."
The Dealer raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
CRACK!
The sound echoed like a sniper's gunshot.
The world instantly began to violently warp and shift.
Before Cedric could process the sudden, chaotic shift, the white sand on either side of them began to tremble.
RUUUUMBLE.
The ground shook as if a massive earthquake had struck the beach.
The pristine blue sky suddenly darkened, peeling away like painted wallpaper.
It was replaced by an infinitely high, overarching dome of flashing neon lights, swirling cosmic nebulae, and floating holographic screens.
The gentle ocean waves were violently pushed back, walled off by an invisible, shimmering forcefield.
Rising from the sand around them were towering, colossal grandstands.
They spiraled hundreds of feet into the air in a massive, enclosed circle.
The entire serene beach was being converted into a gladiatorial arena of epic, multiversal proportions.
Rows upon rows of stadium seating materialized out of thin air.
And they weren't empty.
Millions of holographic, glowing entities blinked into existence.
They were beings of pure light and shifting shadow, faceless silhouettes of varying colors—sapphire blues, crimson reds, and aggressive purples.
They cheered with a deafening, artificial roar.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
The sound of the virtual audience was physically staggering, vibrating against Cedric's ribs.
But far above the millions of faceless holograms sat a series of massive, opulent VIP boxes hovering in the stadium's artificial stratosphere.
Inside these floating private suites sat entities of terrifying, unquantifiable cosmic power.
They were beings from across the multiverse, ancient existences bound by strict, archaic laws of non-interference. For them, reality was a mere script, and true, raw unpredictability was the rarest commodity.
They lived solely for entertainment.
They didn't use mundane names; they used singular titles that defined their absolute nature.
In the highest box, a figure draped in blinding, shifting golden light leaned forward against a railing of starlight.
[Joyful]: "Ah, Dealer! We meet again so soon, don't we?! Oh, and by the way, I'm out of money, so I'm just here to watch, ehehehe!"
A second voice, raspy, echoing, and entirely detached from physical form, spoke from a box shrouded entirely in shifting black fog.
[Rider]: "So... this is the challenger of this time? He hasn't shown anything truly remarkable yet; the next game might be different, but not now. 50,000 Void Coins on Dealer's side"
A third voice, cool, calculating, and perfectly synthesized, chimed in from a geometrically perfect cube of blue neon light.
[Observer]: "Do not underestimate the Dealer's investments, Rider. 50,000 Void Coins on the kid."
A massive entity, seemingly made of interconnected gears and structural blueprints, hummed with approval.
[Architect]: "He wears the scent of borrowed time. But... would that guarantee him victory? 50,000 Void Coins on Dealer"
A flamboyant silhouette constantly flipping a glowing coin laughed from across the VIP tier.
[Gambler]: "I'll take those odds! 100,000 Void Coins on the boy Cedric! The house always wins, sure, but 99% of gamblers give up before they win big! LET IT RIDE!!!"
A hulking, wide entity that seemed to passively devour the light around it spoke with a deep, rumbling hunger.
[Glutton]: "I wonder if his despair tastes as sweet as his hope. I bet 67,000 on Dealer."
A figure composed entirely of weaving, glowing silver threads leaned closer to the glass.
[Weaver]: "His threads are tangled. Snapped, yet tied to another realm entirely. Fascinating tapestry. 40,000 on the kid to surprise us."
A sharp, authoritative presence wielding a massive, spectral gavel slammed it down softly.
[Judge]: "Ensure the parameters are absolute, Dealer. We are here for sport, not a slaughter without proper rules. The integrity of the game must be upheld. And I will not bet on this game."
A hazy, cloud-like entity floated languidly, speaking in a voice like a soft lullaby.
[Dreamer]: "Let him sleep... or let him fight. The narrative demands conflict to awaken the soul. 50,000 on the boy."
And finally, a pitch-black void within a void, absolute and uncompromising, spoke just a single, chilling word.
[Abyss]: "Dust... 50,000 on Dealer."
The Dealer laughed, his voice magically amplified to echo through the entire stadium, easily overpowering the chatter of the twelve cosmic gods.
The he snapped his fingers again.
He instantly teleported from the beach chair to a high-tech, floating commentary booth hovering fifty feet above the arena floor.
Cedric looked up, shielding his eyes from the glare of the tracking spotlights.
The Dealer was now wearing a dazzling, sequined sports announcer jacket over his floral Hawaiian shirt.
Immediately after that, a familiar voice echoed in Cedric's mind.
'Oh, by the way, all of your skills are disabled except for your body, Cedric, so you'd better prepare yoursel-'
'Hey, when did I ever... agree to participate?' Cedric interrupted the Dealer.
'Well, I know you don't like it, but... there's nothing you can do about it anyway.'
'Some b**ches accidentally let "a few" individuals know that I had my eye on a human, again. It slowly spread, and then a lot of people started asking me about it. And they also trust my 'eyes'. That is why I had to organize this thing.'
'This is an event I host whenever I take an interest in someone. I hadn't planned on holding it knowing your personality, but since the informations leaked, I had no other choice.'
'The reason the other entities are interested in this thing is largely for entertainment and the rewards it offers to the entity that wins their own internal competition.'
'But...' Cedric replied.
'Don't worry about a thing, you won't be harmed during the competition. Win, and there are valuable prizes; lose, and there's no penalty whatsoever. So, you're always in an advantageous position,' the Dealer explained.
'So, please agree, Cedric'
'...'
'I... understand,' Cedric replied after a long moment of contemplation.
'Thank you, Cedric.'
He held a glowing golden microphone in his hand.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ENTITIES OF THE VOID, CHRONICLERS OF THE MULTIVERSE!"
The Dealer's voice boomed, sending physical shockwaves of excitement through the crowd.
"WELCOME TO THE DEALER'S OLYMPICS!"
The holographic crowd went absolutely wild, their cheers blending into a singular, sustained scream of manic anticipation.
"I am your host, The Dealer!"
"And sitting right next to me, providing unparalleled, entirely objective expert analysis, is my esteemed co-host..."
"Give it up for the one, the only... SANDY-CHAN!"
Cedric squinted at the floating booth.
Sitting next to The Dealer was a towering, elegant female sand-golem.
Her form was meticulously sculpted from tightly packed, shimmering sand that glittered with crushed, iridescent seashells, resembling a sparkling evening gown.
She had sharp, angular features carved flawlessly into her sand-face.
Her glowing, hot-pink visor eyes radiated a calm, deeply analytical intelligence.
She wore an oversized, bedazzled headset over where her ears should be.
Sandy-chan struck a playful, energetic pose for the camera. She stood up, leaned over the commentary desk, and started dropping some major tea with her hands.
Her sign language was sharp, fast, and full of attitude. As she moved, massive, neon-glowing letters popped up in the air above the stadium like live subtitles for everyone to catch the vibes:
[YO MULTIVERSE, IT'S YA GIRL SANDY-CHAN! PREPPED FOR A SERIOUSLY CRACKED MATCH TODAY!]
The Dealer nodded with a grin.
The female sand golem gave a cheeky, confident bow to the camera drones.
Cedric just stared from the arena floor, totally shook by how extra everything was.
"Now, let's talk about the real deal here!" The Dealer announced, pointing straight at Cedric.
"The big bosses in the VIP boxes are dropping some massive bets on your run, Cedric!"
"They're totally starved for some A-tier entertainment!"
"Whoever wins the biggest bet gets the exclusive, mega-rare cosmic right to lurk on your daily life once you wake up!"
"And if you, Cedric, actually pull a win out of this whole Grand Festival madness..."
"You're getting a S-tier prize from the Dealer's Vault AND a major W blessing from the top-winning Entity!"
"But if you choke? You're getting zero, just the major L of defeat before you wake up with absolutely nothing!"
"But don't worry, you won't have to do everything by yourself!" The Dealer kept hyping it up.
"Cedric, get ready to meet your dream team!"
The white sand right in front of Cedric started swirling and popping off like crazy.
Three sand pillars spiraled up, quick-forming into humanoid shapes.
In a hot second, three sand dudes were standing there. No faces, just glowing neon visors for eyes. "Let me introduce the squad!"
The Dealer's voice thundered from above.
The first figure was a bit taller and sturdier. It was rocking a cheap, vibrant plastic flower lei around its neck like it owned the place.
It marched right up to Cedric with absolute main character energy, straight posture and everything.
It patted its sandy chest with a hollow thud-thud.
It gave Cedric a super solid, heroic thumbs-up.
Its visor was blinking a chill, locked-in green light.
"We're gonna call this brave homie... BOB!"
The Dealer hyped.
The virtual crowd was low-key stanning Bob.
Bob turned to the crowd, flexed a non-existent bicep, and did a deep bow, clearly living for the attention and radiating pure squad leader energy.
Cedric gave Bob a nod. Honestly, he seemed like a real one, even if he was a bit of a golden retriever.
But then, Cedric checked out the second figure.
This guy was slouched and looking straight-up tragic.
He was shaking so bad that sand was shedding off his shoulders like a failing aesthetic.
He looked absolutely terrified of the stadium, the lights, and the noise.
His neon visor was flickering a panicked, rapid-fire yellow.
"And this shaking puddle of anxiety... we're gonna call him JERRY!"
Jerry let out a sound like a sad, whistling tea kettle.
He was desperately trying to hide behind Bob's sturdy frame.
Cedric could literally see Jerry's shoulders sagging.
Jerry looked down at his own trembling hands, clearly bummed out about his own cowardice.
He was trying his hardest to stand tall and be brave for the squad.
But his knees were knocking together so loud it was causing a sandstorm.
Bob reached out and gave Jerry a gentle pat on the back, making soft, clinking sand noises.
Jerry clicked back, sounding super apologetic for even existing, honestly giving off major "I'm the problem" vibes.
"And finally..."
The Dealer teased, building up all the drama.
Cedric searched for the third teammate.
He was super scrawny, zero muscle definition in those sandy arms.
The second he appeared, he immediately dropped to his knees.
He started frantically digging a hole in the sand.
Scrape-scrape-scrape.
He was desperately trying to dig a tunnel to bounce from the stadium entirely, just trying to hide from existence.
Only his waist and legs were sticking out as sand flew out of the growing hole.
"The guy currently trying to tunnel to the earth's core is TIM!"
Tim paused his frantic digging and popped his faceless head out of the pit.
His visor flashed a sad, dim blue.
He looked at Cedric, then at the stadium full of roaring holographic fans, and just slowly shook his head, totally over it.
Tim patted his own scrawny arms, clearly signaling a major inferiority complex.
He had zero muscle to throw hands.
He had zero courage to stand up.
He looked at Bob's confident, heroic vibe.
Then he looked at his own pathetic, crumbling shovel-hands.
Tim let out a silent, dramatic sigh of total defeat and dropped his head.
He immediately went right back to digging his escape tunnel, honestly working harder on that than anything else.
Scrape-scrape-scrape.
Cedric stared at his squad of absolute icons.
Bob was standing tall, ready to die for the squad.
Jerry was literally vibrating apart from pure fear, hating himself for every grain of sand he lost.
Tim was actively quitting the team because his confidence was in the pits.
'Tricked me, did you?' Cedric got a headache by just looking at this team.
And… he realized he hadn't played a game—like, a real, pointless, stupid game just for the vibes—in literal years.
He looked at the trembling Jerry and the frantically digging Tim.
He knew they were basically useless right now.
But looking at Bob, who stood solid under the stadium lights, Cedric felt a weird sense of brotherhood.
He gave Bob a real, respectful nod.
"Alright," Cedric murmured, rolling his shoulders to test out his spectral fit. "Let's get this dub."
"Let the games begin!"
The Dealer announced from his floating booth.
Sandy-chan the Golem gave a sharp, confident salute to Cedric and pressed the big red button on their desk.
"GAME 1: FOUR-ON-FOUR BEACH VOLLEYBALL!!!" Dealer shouted
A massive, steel-reinforced volleyball net shot up from the sand with a loud, metallic SHHHNK.
It split the pristine beach in half.
On the other side of the net, the sand swirled intensely to form Cedric's opponents.
These weren't some cute, pathetic minions like Jerry or Tim.
Four of The Dealer's elite, hyper-muscular sand-golems flexed their massive, grainy biceps.
They were sculpted like Greek gods, all standing at least seven feet tall and radiating insane power.
They were rocking tiny, ridiculous neon-pink sunglasses that somehow made them look way more intimidating.
They were making steady, menacing click-clack sounds.
K-k-k-k-click.
They looked totally formidable, savage, and ready to spike a ball through a brick wall.
"Ladies and gents, allow me to introduce the reigning, undefeated champs of the void!" The Dealer shouted into his mic.
"On the left, our Setter, VECTOR! He can calculate wind resistance and ball trajectory down to the microscopic millimeter!"
Vector was a sleek, aerodynamic vibe made of fine, silvery sand. Its head was an upside-down triangle, and four extra arms made of magnetic sand were floating detached behind its back.
"In the middle, our Libero, BULWARK! An immovable, fifteen-foot-wide wall of compacted earth and river rocks!"
Bulwark had no neck. Just a massive, squat square of dark mud wearing a tiny neon-pink sweatband.
"On the right, our Spiker, CANNONBALL! He's got enough raw, localized kinetic energy to shatter an armored tank!"
Cannonball was tall and lanky, but its right arm was a grotesquely huge, heavily armored cannon of hardened glass pulsing with concentrated void energy.
"And finally, the wild card serving as their all-rounder... MIRAGE!"
Mirage was sleek, constantly shifting form. The sand rippled over its body like water, blurring its silhouette and making it super hard for the human eye to track.
Sandy-chan the Golem's hands moved in a sharp, assertive rhythm, making sure the audience kept up with the action.
[YO, WATCH THIS! THEIR SYNERGY IS LITERALLY INSANE! CEDRIC IS IN A TOUGH SPOT!!!]
"Love those odds!" [Joyful] laughed from the VIP box. "Makes the potential upset all the more delicious!"
"Listen up, competitors!" The Dealer's voice cut through the hype, silencing everyone.
"The rules of Game 1 are simple!"
"Standard volleyball rules apply. Three hits max per side. No carrying, no throwing."
"First team to three points takes the set. It's a BO5 to see who takes the W for this game!"
"Any questions? No? Good!"
"THEN LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!!"
A massive holographic clock lit up in the air above the net, glowing a scary bright red.
10...
The whole stadium was holding its breath.
Cedric felt his heart rate cranking up, that competitive adrenaline finally hitting his veins.
9...
8...
[Rider]: "Show me... what you got."
7...
6...
5...
Cedric walked onto the court, locking into his standard, focused defensive stance on the backline.
His knees were bent deep.
His weight was perfectly centered.
His purple eyes locked onto the four giants across the net, pure focus.
4...
3...
Bob stepped up right next to him on the right, mimicking Cedric's stance perfectly, totally fearless.
2...
Jerry stood way back on the left, vibrating so hard he looked like a blurry mess—a living embodiment of pure terror.
Tim dug his hole even harder, spraying sand into the air, just trying to find a safe space.
1...
0...
"SERVE!"
A loud whistle blasted, signaling the match start.
Vector the Setter didn't miss a beat.
With a super fast motion, its floating arms tossed the humming ball sky-high.
Cannonball the Spiker instantly disappeared from its spot.
It left a small crater in the sand from the raw, explosive force of its jump.
It reappeared ten feet in the air, soaring way above the steel net, blotting out the stadium lights.
It drew its massive cannon-arm back like a bowstring.
WHAAAM!
The impact sounded like a literal artillery shell.
The volleyball shredded through the air with a supersonic, ear-splitting shriek.
SCREEEEEEECH!
This wasn't some gentle, friendly beach volley serve.
It shot straight down toward Cedric's side like a military-grade laser.
Cedric's eyes widened, his brain trying to calculate that impossibly fast trajectory.
He moved to intercept, muscles tensing to dive.
But he was just too slow.
The heavy, energy-infused ball slammed into the sand barely an inch from his foot.
BOOM!!!!
The sand erupted like a landmine had just gone off.
"And that's point number one for the Golems!" The Dealer laughed over the loudspeaker.
"Our challenger didn't even have time to react! That speed is just too cracked!"
Sandy-chan's hands moved with a swift, cutting rhythm, totally on top of the game.
[LOOK AT THE SPEED OF THAT SERVE!!! CEDRIC LITERALLY HAD ZERO CHANCE TO INTERCEPT! SCORE: 1-0!!!]
The crowd roared, hyping up that insane display of power.
Cedric just narrowed his eyes.
He dropped the first point, totally outpaced in speed and strength.