Spar (1)

The meeting room was dark, with the only light coming from the trident floating above the table. Three out of four chairs were filled with people who weren't interested in one another.

The first one was Zok, a goofy-looking man sitting cross-legged on the chair. He hummed a song while petting the black snake wrapped around his arm.

The person next to him was the complete opposite. Zaen had little interest in the meeting, finding solace in playing with his throwing knife.

For a moment, he wanted to throw the knife at the others just to test their skills. But then he remembered what had happened the last time and threw that thought out of his head.

Ashton Fenrir, the man with platinum-blonde hair, was perhaps the most normal person in the room. Normal by behavior, not by genetics. He was the world's most bizarre creation—a Zompirewolf. A tribrid creature born from the DNA of a zombie, vampire, and werewolf.

But all of them had one thing in common.

Just like Arnold, they were all Shiva's avatars.

And now, they were waiting for Arnold, who had called the meeting but was late as usual. Thankfully, Nicole, despite being the world's president, had informed them about the meeting's agenda.

The Great Invasion.

The event had happened earlier. Fortunately, all three of them noticed it firsthand because the dungeon portals opened right where they were.

A moment later, the doors leading to the room opened, and in walked Shiva's first avatar, Arnold.

"I hope I'm not too late," he said.

"Define late," Zaen quipped, throwing a knife at him.

As usual, the knife bounced off Arnold's metal arm.

"Good to see you too, Zaen," Arnold said, rolling his eyes. "I wish someday you would show off this skill and bring back a relic."

Zaen didn't bother replying and just began playing with a second throwing knife. The two had been beefing for a while now—first because Zaen was as irresponsible as they came, and secondly because he was dating Nicole.

Arnold sighed and greeted the rest.

"Zok, Ashton, good to see you both."

"You missed Oro," Zok replied. "She says hi."

"Right. Good to have you here, Oro," Arnold laughed, waving to the snake.

Ashton said nothing, just nodded in acknowledgment. His eyes were fixed on the dossier Nicole had prepared for them. He was interested in the phenomenon of dungeons.

While dungeons existed in all of their worlds, it differed from Arnold's universe. It was the first time he had heard about dungeons being used for teleportation.

Also, the history regarding the first invasion was interesting—literal gods playing with Earthlings, choosing their champions to duke it out and whatnot, for the sake of entertainment.

If he hadn't fought primordials, Ashton—or anyone in the room, for that matter—wouldn't believe a thing written in the reports.

"Well, you all already know about the past," Arnold said, tapping the screen before them. "So, I'll tell you about the present. The primordials have found us. I don't know how, but they have."

"That sucks," Zaen smirked. "I guess we won't have to roam around to collect relics anymore."

Zaen looked around the table, expecting them to laugh. But no one did.

"Tsk, you people are no fun."

"As I was saying, they have found us, and that leads me to believe… it's time to get serious," Arnold continued. "The enemies we'll be fighting now won't be mere grunts or elites."

"That's not the issue," Ashton chimed in. "If they open portals like they did before, the four of us won't be enough to stop them."

"We have our summons, don't we? Besides, Chief Arnold's got so many metal humans, and I have my pets. We can take them down!" Zok nodded, laughing to himself.

However, everyone else knew it wouldn't be so easy. While they could take down grunts and elites with ease, none of them had fought a primordial of a higher class. Hence, taking them lightly was the biggest mistake they could make.

Besides, they did not know about the size of the enemy's armies. The four of them could take down worlds, but their enemies could do the same. They needed to get stronger. Not only them, but they also needed to build powerful forces as well—at least people who could take down the grunts one-on-one.

"There's also something I want to show you," Arnold said, snapping his fingers.

Talos walked out of his domain, carrying a severed hand floating in the air.

"This is the hand of the primordial I fought. The bastard vanished, but his hand didn't."

He continued, "I think it's because, unlike the rest of his body, this hand belonged to the real primordial. However, the ones that came out of the portals were just clones."

"We fought clones?" Zaen dropped the knife. "That guy was too strong to be a clone. It took me three punches to take him down."

"I guess that's what they call a skill issue," Ashton mumbled.

Zok couldn't help but chuckle.

"Why don't you get up and we'll see who has skill issues?"

Zaen slammed his hand on the table, eager to duke it out. However, Ashton just shook his head. It was always the same with Zaen. For him, strength was the answer to everything.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Arnold agreed. "It's been a while since we've sparred against one another. Besides, it'll be good practice."

"I'm ready," Zaen smirked.

"Fine, let's do this," Ashton agreed.

"If everyone wants to fight, then a Zukira won't back down!" Zok said, jumping from the chair.

"Alright then, let's get going."

Arnold opened a portal to his domain and invited them all in. After all, it was the only place where they could go all out without destroying the planet in the process.

Besides, his hands had been itching for a fight.