Jin had thought there was a pretty good chance of her getting selected after pissing off Salman so much. She had contempted making a run for it, but aside from the guard already holding her, she didn’t want to leave the other Servants to die.

  She woodenly crossed the bridge, barely paying attention to the stares and murmur of the thousands of people watching her do so. She didn’t bow to Salman; she didn’t even bother looking at him as she moved toward the people she actually cared about.

  The glowing gods blocked her path to them, however, and she stared up into the brilliant gaze of the Lion as he asked the others, “Who among us offers patronage to this Servant and Wayfarer?”

  The murmur of the crowd grew as rumors were confirmed, but Jin ignored them, gncing around at the other gods briefly. This would probably be the only time she’d get a good look at all of them. Every single one of them appeared as a variant of the mundane animals she knew of back on Earth, but there was something slightly off about them, aside from the glowing that was. It was like someone had described what the animals should look like to someone who had never seen them before. They were recognizable but not exact.

  Jin thought, like every other Servant, that she wouldn’t be offered a Blessing, but a small Rabbit hopped forward and shocked everyone by saying, “I offer Patronage to Jin the Wayfarer.” The bunny actually smiled at her and said with a chuckle, “She’ll need all the luck she can get.”

  Eagle spoke up next. “I do as well. Jin has already dispyed courage in the face of adversity.”

  “And I,” a growly voice said, and there was a collective gasp from the crowd as a rge crocodile waddled forward. “I have felt Jin’s hatred towards those who take what isn’t offered.” Crocodile surprised her then by adding in a quieter voice directly to her, “That hatred can fuel your climb if you embrace it.”

  After a long moment of silence, Lion spoke again, “You may only choose one to be blessed by. Choose your Patron, Jin.”

  She looked between the gods, who had offered to bless her… offered her but not her friends, who needed more help to survive. They endorsed their deaths. Ultimately, they were the entire reason for all of the deaths in the Tower. They were gods; they had the power to stop this insanity, and instead of making things better, they reinforced and reveled in all of it.

  Finally, she replied, “How about no, and kindly go fuck yourselves.”

  Karam stared in shock with the rest of the crowd as Jin stood before the gods and threw their offered Blessings back in their faces.

  “Oh, I like her so much more now,” Hadia said from beside him with a chuckle.

  “She’s an idiot that’s going to get killed even faster by doing that,” Max retorted. “Nobody turns down a Patron. She might as well have tossed an Aspect into the Pool of Reflections.”

  At the mention of the pool, Karam gnced at the currently still waters that surrounded the Tower. He had feared this day for years. Knowing Hadia had been right earlier when she predicted this moment. Despite his adaptability, Salman had always seen him as lesser, as a burden to everyone.

  He had tried to prove Salman wrong—tried to be a good Servant—but apparently, it hadn’t been enough, and now he would die within the day.

  Basima was crying as she hugged herself and rocked back and forth on her heels. He wanted to console her but felt numb himself as the world seemed to move in slow motion around them all. He wasn’t used to the stares of the crowds and didn’t want to think about the death that awaited them.

  Lion spoke again and drew Karam’s attention to the dais once more. “You dare to insult the gods, pathetic mortal?”

  “Better than being a pathetic god who stands by to watch kids and elders die for your entertainment,” Jin said before walking forward. “Now, excuse me while I go help my friends survive your stupid game.”

  The gods merely stared after the Wayfarer, who stomped past them and walked straight toward their group of gray-cd Servants. She walked up to Basima first and put her hands on the blonde’s shoulders as she said firmly, “Hey, remember what I told you st night?”

  Basima nodded and recited, “I am not going to die. I’m not going to give up and will fight back.”

  “That’s right. We’re going to survive this,” Jin said, then turned to meet each of their gazes. Then she surprised him by moving her hands in the sign nguage he had seen Alim use once in a while that he couldn’t learn well while saying, “All of us are going to live. We’re going to make it to the top and prove those douche-gods wrong.”

  “You’re insane,” Max said, crossing his arms.

  Karam wasn’t too surprised by Maximus’ inclusion in the group of “failed” Servants. The guy was always rude to everyone and zy compared to any other Servant he had ever seen. Even if he managed to not get punished for disobeying an order, the man did a crappy job at whatever it was. Not even the bare minimum would be accomplished as Max apparently saw every job as beneath him and not worth the effort.

  The two elders, Kian and Mary, gave small smiles and indulgent shakes of their heads but were quietly conversing with one another instead. Karam had known them both his whole life and was sad to see them here today but Salman always seemed to choose those that he thought couldn’t fulfill their duties properly.

  The twins, Daren and Celia, were a pair that Karam had interacted with a handful of times, and he knew the boy struggled with understanding things and following complex tasks. They had both been too young for the start of the st Season, but he wasn’t entirely surprised that Celia had chosen to follow her condemned brother.

  “The Champions have been chosen!” Lion called out, carrying on with the ceremony without paying any more attention to the insolent Wayfarer. “The Gates shall now open, and the waters will flow once more. The Champions have time to prepare until the Season of Salvation begins at Sun’s peak. We will be watching and waiting at the top of the Tower of Pority. May the greatest Sect be victorious!”

  Then the deities vanished, and the rge gates leading into the Tower slowly swung inward to allow the Champions’ entrance.

  Karam stared at that bnket of white light beyond it. He was going to be swallowed by it and never see the outside again.

  “Kar? Hey, look at me, big guy,” Jin said from beside him, grabbing his forearm to drag his attention to her. “Look, you’ve done great about expining things to me so far, and I’m gonna need you to focus on doing that right now, okay?”

  He nodded, pushing the looming threat of death from his mind as he focused on giving Jin the information she needed. “R-right, um, what do you—”

  “Everything. Walk me through what’s going to happen for that prep the wannabe-Asn lion talked about.”

  “Ah, right. The gate is a portal. We’ll go to a room specifically for our Sect to prepare in. It’s stocked with basic matching outfits, the bracelets we’ll need to wear, and the choice of a starter Aspect.”

  “Bracelets?” she asked as people started walking through the gates already.

  “Yeah. There’s going to be a Caster in there making sure we each attune to one. It will monitor our vitals and Caste level and record our surroundings. They are synced to the dispy network that lets people choose who or where they watch things from. We won’t be able to remove them until we leave the Tower or die.”

  “So basically, they can spy on our every move and know any pn we come up with?”

  He nodded but crified, “Yes, but there’s no way for them to pass that information along to the other Sects inside. There are ways to send some items, but any informational pieces are strictly filtered to prevent using the dispy network like you’re suggesting.”

  Alim distracted him from his expnation as he tapped on Jin’s shoulder and signed something to her.

  She thankfully responded both out loud and in sign, “Yeah, I can transte inside for you.” Then she added to him, “He’s worried they won’t let him take the board he uses to write in since it’s technically an outside tool. Which I think is just bullshit, like do they honestly expect him to kill a monster with it?”

  “Bnket rules make things simpler,” Hadia said in his stead. “If they let one person bend the rules, then everyone is going to want to bend them… according to them.”

  “Sounds like a zy excuse to me,” Jin retorted. “There’s a pretty obvious difference between that board and a gun.”

  “What’s a gun?” Basima asked, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

  Jin rubbed at her temple and muttered, “Of course, something simple like that isn’t going to be an option here.” Then she waved a hand in the air. “Never mind that for right now, though, I’ve heard people mention Aspects before, but nobody has actually expined them to me yet.”

  “They’re basically magic items that can grant abilities?” Karam tried to expin as best he could.

  “Like a Caster?”

  “Well, they’re a requirement for that. You need to absorb four of them to unlock your Css, which triggers the ascension to the Crystal Caste and bels you as a Caster. We’re each going to be able to choose one from an assortment, though I’m not sure what the theme will be this Season.”

  “Theme?”

  Hadia spoke up to answer again. “Aspects can be representations of almost anything. Last Season, the starting theme was ‘emotions.’ So it was options like Wrath, Hope, Love, Terror, etcetera.”

  “My parents said a lot of people believed that theme was one of the reasons for the full wipe,” Basima added. “They said such esoteric options were terrible as a foundation to hope to kill monsters with.”

  “So we get a theme and pick an Aspect to absorb, but you said we need to get four to actually become a Caster?” Jin asked.

  Karam nodded. “Yeah, the rituals take some time, which is one of the reasons we’re given some to prepare beforehand. We’ve got about two hours until midday, and the Season officially starts.”

  “Hey, it’s our turn to go through,” Max said, having stayed on the edge of the conversation and didn’t wait for them as he walked through the gate.

  The twins followed closely behind, Daren looking excited at the appearance of the portal. They were followed by the elders, who seemed to decide to lean on one another as they interlinked arms and carefully made their way through the portal.

  “We can keep expining inside and get a better idea of what we’re working with,” Hadia said as she turned and went through as well.

  Alim gnced back at him and gave a firm nod of encouragement before silently following after Hadia. If Alim was going to face this head-on, then surely he could as well.

  “I am not going to die,” he heard Basima recite once more as she stared at the white portal. “I’m not going to give up and will fight back.”

  Jin patted her shoulder. “That’s right, and I’ve got your back.”

  Basima smiled at the Wayfarer and gave a nervous nod before walking through the gate as well.

  She turned to look at him and said, “I got your back, too, but I’m counting on you to be as badass in there as you already are out here.”

  He nervously chuckled and shook his head. “I think you’re the first person to ever tell me something like that.”

  “Not my fault the others are idiots,” she said unapologetically with a shrug. “Now let’s show them all how awesome you can be.”

  Karam nodded, and they walked through the gate together.

  He had never experienced a portal before, but the feeling instantly made him feel a bit sick to his stomach when he found himself in the Service Sect’s preparation room. Matching silver uniforms lined one of the walls in various sizes, and he hoped there was a set that would fit him. He wasn’t exactly the fittest person, but he was also just big—tall and broad, with thicker bones and flesh.

  “Welcome, Champions,” the attending Caster said. They were a Servant like them, but he knew they were dedicated to a deity and under service to the Tower itself. “I am Keeper Nell and am here to assist.”

  They gestured to the wall opposite the uniforms that was filled with various Aspects, and Nell said, “This Season’s starting theme is ‘The right Tool for the job,’ and you may only choose one each.”

  Luckily, each had a little bel under them, but they weren’t as necessary as the ones for emotions had been. These Aspects all looked like miniatures of the tools they represented, and even more fortunate were the weapons included among them.

  “Awesome,” Max said, walking right up to one and picking it up. “I’m taking the Sword Aspect.”

  “Hey, we should talk about it first and come up with a strategy—” Jin started to say, but Max interrupted her.

  “Look, I know you’re new here, Wayfarer, so don’t act like you know better than the rest of us. I was raised among the Speakers, and I know how to use a sword. Do you?”

  He noticed Jin clench her fists but luckily didn’t punch the guy as she said, “I don’t, but that’s not my point. We should make sure that we’ve at least got the basic trinity down. Going all DPS is gonna get us killed.”

  “DPS?” Hadia repeated in confusion.

  “Damage-per-second,” she crified with a sigh. “It just means damage-dealers. We should make sure at least one of us is a tank and healer if this is going to be a work-together-as-a-party type of death game. We’ll survive better against anything we need to fight if we can fill different roles like that.”

  “I know what a healer is, but what’s a tank?” Basima asked.

  “Someone who protects the others and takes most of the damage; I’m not sure if there are abilities that support that, though. But basically heavier armor or maybe a way to regenerate? Getting aggro will be the main requirement though. Is taunting a thing?”

  “That’s all well and good, but I’m still going with the sword,” Max interjected. “You all can do whatever you like, but I'm choosing this and getting to the base first. I don’t need any of you to win this, so just stay out of my way.”

  Karam shook his head at the Speaker outcast and turned back to Jin. “I’m with you. You seem to actually have some sort of pn to keep us alive, so I’ll follow your lead.” He gestured towards Alim and asked her, “Can you transte that for me so he knows where I stand?”

  Jin slowly nodded and began signing as Basima stepped closer to Jin and said, “I’m with you, too. You promised to have my back, but I can have yours too.”

  “I’m in as well,” Hadia joined in. “Max is an idiot. If we’re going to have any chance to survive this, it’ll only be together. Nobody else cares about us, so we gotta care about ourselves.” She nodded toward Jin and added, “Let’s show these pricks not to underestimate the people they try to step all over.”