"What? Who did intervene?" "I thought no one could intervene in that fight. Why did they intervene? This is the most interesting part."
"Uncover her; let me see her naked body!"
"Get that shield out; let me see her!"
More and more people complain about the intervention of the Heroes Academy. They complain to see Dina-Might's naked body.
"What do you think of us all, you people? Do you think you're in a porn? You are complaining for not showing you the naked body of our candidates; go and leave our channel for it's not going to happen. The Gods had intervened, and it's not the Heroes Academy who did it. Ahh, I know you are jealous of us Heroes because the Gods had blessed us, and you people are not. Sorry for I lost my cool with these people who want the naked bodies of our candidates. What are we? Who do you think you are? Idiots!" cried the emcee.
"The Gods again!" Complained the viewers. An ordinary middle-aged man was watching his monitor; he got angry the moment he heard the gods were mentioned and intervened.
"The Gods intervened for these fucking gambling games! I treated it as my leisure, yet the Gods intervened! Where are the gods when monsters creep at night? Where are the gods during the beast tide? Where were the gods when Russia was dominated by demons, including its neighboring countries? Where are they, huh? Now here they are intervening in a gambling game. This is bullshit, you fucking god; go and fuck yourself! "He reasoned it out and picked up a metal scrap and smashed his monitor.
Ordinary people of the apocalypse hated the gods to the bone.
Meanwhile, Null and Fox Slayer were already on the 50th step of the ladder. "Hey! You should bring me down now!" Ordered Fox Slayer.
Then immediately Null brings her down, and at that moment Fox Slayer slaps his face, yet he doesn't feel it as if nothing happened. His body has no sense of feeling at all.
"Yesterday, you kissed me, and today, you slapped me. What is that for?" asked Null.
"It's too late for you to bring me down; my father won't let this go," she explained.
"What? Sorry, I have to go," and Null started to walk away.
"You will just leave me and walk away from me after carrying me one night and almost two days!" complained Fox Slayer, and then she followed after Null.
"No, you must not follow me; I'm a dangerous man."warned Null.
He is rejecting her now, so she thought it was because of his inner demon, so she ran to his side. She hugged him to comfort him.
"Did you feel it?" asks Null.
"Feel what?" Fox Slayer asks curiously.
"Are you going to confess you love me?" asked Fox Slayer enthusiastically.
"Ugh!" sighed Null, and he scratched his head, pulling himself away from the girl.
"Why are you jumping to conclusions all of a sudden?" he asked.
"Then tell me," demanded Fox Slayer.
"What are we seeing right now? Is this a love quarrel? Complained the girls of the senior students.
"I told you, get away from me because, ugh! Ugh! No! I can't control it anymore. Run!" Null doesn't feel anything, but he knows the danger of his core if it breaks out. He understands what it wants, what it desires; after all, it erased the inner demon of Fox Slayer, but now it wants more. What does it really want? The whole platform of the Ladder of Fortitude. It wants to make it over completely, vanish and erase everything, or put them all to an end and become unexistent, but only emptiness remains.
"I know it's your inner demon, right? Now it's my time to take care of you," said Fox Slayer, who actually didn't know what to do this time, especially since there were dark marks that appeared on Null's body. His eyes become crimson in color.
"What is this? Is this your inner demon?" Feeling the powerful pressure, she was terrified to look up at Null's eye; she couldn't even steadily stand up. Her feet were uncontrollably shaking, and she felt a total danger without any clue for safety at all. She felt her memory being erased one by one; her life force is being subtracted little by little. Her soul is slowly dying, and her consciousness is fading.
Then Null grabbed her neck, and with all his remaining strength, he tossed her to the 51st step. At that moment, the Academy Director was in his chamber alone watching the Test of Fortitude online.
"Damn it, kid! What do you think of my daughter? A ball that you just toss her like that!" Then he slammed his fist on the table, and it trampled to the floor.
As Fox Slayer bumps into the floor, she stands up and wants to run back to the 50th step, but then huge chains appear that prevent her from going back, blocking her way. Then six more chains appeared all around Null.
"What are those?" asked the students.
"This is the first time that it has happened, the first time that the ladder is reacting to a candidate. I don't know if this candidate's inner demon is too strong that the God of the Pathways had to intervene. I really don't know what is going on, since none of us has grasped the secret of the ladder," said the emcee.
Those six huge chains pinned Null's body and penetrated deep down into his core. The core reacted and fought the chains and broke it. The chains are unstoppable; they just keep coming and attacking the core as its goal. The core keeps on resisting as it clashes with those chains. Then more chains appeared on the floor; some chains entangled Null's body, and others prevented him from moving. Two huge chains went into his head, only to find out there is nothing in his consciousness but a deep of nothingness. Then those chains in Null's head continued to dig deeper till they found out those memories of his past life.
The God of the Pathways was surprised, knowing the villain is back. She called him a villain since Geo was the villain of the story of the love affair of Andrea, a hero who fell in love with a monster who was Anthony and was killed by the villain who was another hero.
"Did he become a demon? What is this core? Why does it have the power to resist my chains? What happened to this villain?" So many questions had arrived in her head that they were giving her headaches now as she was chained in the depths guarded by water demons. She was only using her connection to the artifact and a little bit of her consciousness to seal Null's core because she felt that its power was dangerous, that if it became uncontrollable, even her Ladder could not stand against it.
Null is unconscious even though his subconscious mind slumbers. He is in deep sleep since he used his body to its limit as he ran from steps ten to fifty without rest and sleep on the ladder. His body was weak and no longer had the power to resist the core, but he didn't know it since he couldn't feel anything.
"If he reincarnated, why are his memories still intact?" asks the God of the Pathways to herself.
Then she dug deeper into the memories till she discovered the memories of Netherworld.
"What did that demon lord do to you? What was that gift?" she asks again, though she knows no one will answer her. Then, she dig deeper into those memories as she sighed.
She was grateful the core did not do anything about his memories.
"Oh, it's Sandara and the demon lord Lucid personally escorted you to her. And it's your stubbornness that keeps those memories after reincarnation. Why you have to do that, those memories hurt you? Why not let go then? Those were memories that made you kill yourself. Are you nuts? Are you an idiot? Why keep those memories? Why am I crying?" She was just talking to herself but now she cries as she understands the agony that the hero turned villain in the love affair of two people had been through. He don't even know, he was the villain in that story.
"Damn you God the Author!" She shouted out of anger.
"With these memories, why is he not affected at all? Maybe it's the core. Just what really is the core is? What kind of power is this?" She then went on to dig deeper into his memories to seek answer for her questions but she since that Null is waking up.
"Shit! I have to go, he is waking up"she whispered.
When Null's slumbered consciousness wake up, he saw a back of a woman before she disappeared.
"Andrea?" He muttered. His tears began to fall so he wondered why that moment he mentioned that name it's like deep inside him wanted wanted to see her, had that longing.
"What a powerful name" Null muttered as he get up it was the third day of the test already and his been sleeping for the whole night.
Fox Slayer has already left the 51rst step and current top player but only climb to 52nd step since she want to go down if only the God of the Pathways intervene and blocked her from doing so but she did not moved to the upper steps and stay on the 52nd step waiting for Null to get up. As she saw Null get up, she dicided to go down to meet him but, a shield appeared infront of her blocking her from doing so.
So she shouted, "Null! Are you alright!"
Null did not hear much of what she shouted since he was still deep in his mind and consciousness wondering what had happened to himself. He remembered Andrea, the woman he loved but now he don't know what love is and it was crazy because he can't feel her anymore. He also now affected by the Illusion of the Ladder since his core was sealed yet his emotions are empty.
A man without an inner demon, that is what the God of the Pathways had observe. How can it be possible?
Dina-might had awakened first before Damon so she is steps away from him. She is in the 26th step and Damon in the 22nd step.
"Hi everyone, It's the third day of the test already, and many candidates had passed the tenth step now. As you've seen, Tundra has become unstoppable that moment he steps into the tenth and was overpowered by his own inner demon and rush all the way to the eleventh step and electrocuted everyone in there but he was not contented yet he now goes to the 12th step and will punish everyone in there for sure. At the thirteenth step we see Stickman who is calm and collected, he is well-spoken as one of the ten candidates with great Durability. At the 26th step and current third in rank is Dina-might. And the 4rth rank goes to Damon. The first rank remains since last night it's Fox Slayer at the 52nd step. Next to her is the newly awakened Null at the 50th step, who has not yet make a move. What will he do? Is he gaining some extra energy first before he start to climb or climb all the way directly now that he walk up. Will he carry the Fox Slayer again? I don't think so, I think he was only doing that to save himself and stop that girl from beating him. I think the moment he will make a moved, he is going to surpass that Fox Slayer. And then, we still have a candidate who has not make any movement since Day 1. The only thing that is positive about him is his tolerance, persistence not being dominated by his inner demon. He is Lucky Zero, the candidate at the 1000 rank. He is still at step 1." Narrated by the Fatty Cook of Medicine.