"Wyba, you traitor, we should have jumped together, but you disregarded our teamwork and jumped to Yale directly. You will make me cry."
Although Barha complained, she really didn't care that much. She got bored and walked to Yale and the others.
Nurvey and Nevah also decided to stop touching Ange's ears.
"This girl should be Wyba, right? I heard a lot about her from Nurvey. Well, she has so many plushies about her, that is like if I already knew her from before."
Nurvey never graduated from her passion for Wyba's plushies, so Nevah had also seen them. After all, the Multiverse Trading Association was producing them, so Nurvey had asked Nevah to go buy some a lot of time while they trained.
"Don't tell those things to others..."
Nurvey was embarrassed when someone else pointed her hobby, especially given that Wyba was there herself. Of course, Yale and Wyba knew about her hobby of collecting plushies of Wyba, so they didn't react at all, but others who didn't know looked at her with strange faces.
"Who cares? The Multiverse Trading Association belongs to Yale, so you are a big sponsor given how much you buy there. You don't need to be ashamed."
Although Nevah said that, the price of plushies were negligible by people like Yale, so it mainly served as a way to attract people. The real worth of the Multiverse Trading Association was its information network.
"Did you buy Wyba's plushies? Do you know that they also started to sell plushies of me? Julie asked me permission after I met her. She really has good taste."
Barha spoke like if she did a favor to Julie agreeing to make plushies of her, but the truth was that she was jealous that Wyba had plushies while she didn't, so Julie took that decision to make her happy.
"Sorry..."
Nurvey had been really busy, so it was already a lot that Nevah gave her time to ask the Multiverse Trading Association to send them Wyba's plushies, but it would have been too much asking to see new unrelated products.
Hearing Nurvey's apology, Barha was quite depressed.
"Is my disciple better than me?"
Seeing Barha's state, Yale decided to speak.
"Barha, your plushies aren't available to the public yet. It was delayed until the end of the war for obvious reasons. Moreover, the first one will be a set of you with Wyba. It will be called: The cutest master and disciple pack. Julie is already preparing it to announce it once the war ends. You will be very popular, don't worry."
That information was real, but Yale didn't care too much about it, so he hadn't spoken about it to others before. However, Barha looked very happy.
"Yale, it has been a long time. Sorry for being late."
Yale smiled when he heard that voice. In the past, he was annoyed when he heard it so much, but at that moment, hearing the voice of his old friend wasn't annoying at all.
"Hi, Zack. You aren't the last, so don't worry."
They had met long ago in the Nacesai Academy. Zack was really crazy about archery back then, but his obsession only grew stronger with the pass of time.
His master was known as the Archery Goddess, the first person who obtained the True Archery Divinity, and she was as crazy as Zack for the archery. Yale knew that Zack couldn't wish for someone better than her to teach him.
"I told you that we would be the last, what a shame. They beat us for a few seconds."
Firene and Aizu appeared just after Zack and the Archery Goddess.
"So, what if we are the last? I managed to become a Great Goddess, while Zack is still a God. Being a bit late for this difference isn't shameful."
Aizu was late due to her breakthrough, but strictly speaking, because she wasted time celebrating it not because she was trying to advance until the last second like Wyba.
Moreover, she had to thank the magma pool for her quick progress. If she depended just on her talent, she would have become a God at most even with Firene teaching her.
"No need to argue. Our group is already complete, but others are still coming, so it doesn't matter the order we reached this place."
After Yale spoke, Zack's master tried to catch the attention of all the group.
"I think I never introduced myself. My name is Diane, Zack's master, and wife. We married just before coming because Zack said that it was bad luck planning to marry after a war. Sorry for not being able to invite you all."
Zack had loved her from the start, but it wasn't until the notification of the competition was received that he expressed his feelings. Diane also liked Zack, so she agreed, but since there was no time to organize the wedding, she suggested doing it after the war.
However, Zack told her that doing that was a death flag, so it was better to avoid it. After thinking about it a bit, Diane agreed, and they married right away without any ceremony.
Diane knew about that promise to marry later being a death flag, but it wasn't strange that she wanted a ceremony, so she didn't think about it until Zack told her.
Of course, all about death flags was just superstition, but they felt at ease avoiding it anyway.
The others congratulated them, but soon after that, someone started to speak.
"We will begin. Everyone, please silence."
If someone wasn't there at that moment, it would be considered that forfeited from the competition and would be at the lowest of the hierarchy on the war.
Of course, some just went to hide trying to avoid a war since they didn't care about the Council of Gods or the rebels enough to risk their lives.
"As you know. We will hold a competition among our disciples to decide a hierarchy for the incoming war. I am sorry, but those who didn't bring a disciple accepted before the disciple had reached godship are disqualified and will be at the bottom. Proceed with the oaths to verify that your disciples met the conditions."
It was strange that the Council of Gods forced others to make an oath since it was a very serious matter, and no one liked to be bound by them, but making an oath about something of the past wasn't that problematic if the reason was good enough.
Of course, it wasn't good enough reason the rule imposed in that competition, but everyone who brought a disciple had followed the rules because no one believed that trickery would work.
Those with the hugest problem were those that didn't manage to bring a disciple.
"I object! We didn't have enough time! This is a plot to harm us. My fellow companions without disciples, do you agree?"
The others in the same situation agreed immediately. It wasn't surprising that they were displeased.
"It wasn't our plan to give such a little time, but the situation forced us..."
Although the man tried to justify himself, it was a fact that he and others delayed the notice to gain an advantage.
"Well, what do you think about this? We will make the hierarchy in groups, so you can just join someone who has a disciple here. All the disciples of the same group will be together in the competition, but the groups must be announced before we say the rules, to avoid abuse."
Of course, for those who already knew the rules, they could abuse them as they wished, but those without disciples could only agree in that situation. They weren't strong enough to face all the others, and joining in groups was better than being at the bottom directly.
Those with disciples didn't dislike the idea either because most of them had a friend that they didn't want to face. Inf act, Yale's group was the happiest of all. Yale planned to move the strings behind the scenes to send everyone to the same area, but he could just do it in the open with the new rule. Moreover, there would be no need to calculate to put everyone at the top.
The man who spoke knew that Yale's group would like it, and since it was obvious that the news leaked to them, he thought that making something they would like was a good idea.
"Yale, you and your group will join me. You are now my subordinates."
The first man who complained said those foolish words making everyone laugh.
"Did you lose a screw?"
Kroh felt that the man who spoke had mental issues.
"No. I am serious. Right now, all the Multiverse Trading Association is surrounded by my men. They could kill them all at any moment. You must obey me, or you know what will happen. Remember that violence is forbidden here, and even if I die, my men will kill them before you can act. You know what to do, right?"
The man was smiling while others looked at him with scorn. He didn't have any friends in the Council of Gods, but no one expected that he would use such despicable methods.
"Of course, my friends are important to me."
The man smiled while his body was crushed by dimension walls until disappearing.
"Thus, you died. Those lackeys of yours are also dead, I noticed them long ago. If someone dislikes what I did, come ahead. Anyone who threatens my friends is my enemy."