Is this really a Game?!

It was mostly thanks to the mark he had gained from Hades that Shadow could actually manipulate darkness and make a skill that was as powerful as [ Darkness Implosion ]. Still, being inside the pyramid didn't bother him the least, well, except for the weird mana that could be found inside that made his hairs stand up as well as everybody else.

As the party walked toward the altar, many things were suddenly uncovered to their eyes, bones littered the inside of the pyramid, and blood continuously flowed through small canals that were inside.

Nobody could see where the blood was coming from or where it went, but one interesting thing was that even though so much blood was present in the pyramid, there was no stench inside.

Even after Wolf came close to one of the canals, he could not smell any blood, he reached with his hand to touch the blood that was flowing, only to take his hand back as he felt danger coming from it.

"Weird," Wolf commented as the others simply nodded in agreement, the whole place looked like a weird cultist hideout where they sacrificed living beings as offerings to something.

"Boys, don't touch the blood under any circumstances." Aethion's voice echoed inside all of their heads.

"You're currently inside a place that was designed to summon an avatar of a Transcendent being, that's probably the reason why the Tainted had such an item and managed to become so powerful in a short period of time."

"Should we get out?" Shadow gulped as he asked, the last thing he wanted to do was make a Transcendent angry at them right now.

"No, you can't," Aethion spoke.

"The exit has been blocked and without any offering, the Transcendent won't let anyone out, of course, that's what it did to the Tainted, for you, it's a bit different."

"Have no fear, just step near the altar, he should feel an unknown aura right away and appear."

Reign and the others looked at each other before nodding and listening to what Aethion said. They knew little about Transcendents and the only information they got came from Aethion as Eldar and Jack kept silent most of the time.

The only thing they knew was that Transcendents were incredibly powerful and if one appeared on Earth, he could destroy anything that was in his way, even wiping out every living being would just take a couple of weeks or maybe months. Reign and the others were still unable to wrap their heads around such a level of power, but for now, they didn't need to.

As soon as they came to the altar, the blood that was splashed on it suddenly started moving, Reign and the others didn't notice it previously, but the blood was completely still from the moment they entered the pyramid.

The blood moved and flowed in the air before a circle was created, suddenly a lot of blood started appearing from small holes in the pyramid before joining the circle and creating a sort of array in the air.

The array was about 3 meters in diameter and shone ominously before a hand suddenly came out of it. With the hand came more parts of a body, a head, the torso, the other arm, and legs. The being in front of them was covered in blood that was slowly dripping down to the ground.

It was similar in looks to the Tainted, except for the fierce aura that made even standing difficult for Reign and the others.

"Humans, to think you would have advanced so quickly in such a short period of time." The figure spoke. Its mouth didn't move however, the eyes didn't blink and there was no nose present on its face.

It was like the body was simply a doll that was being controlled by someone, a doll that had no other purpose, and needed not to drink, eat or breathe in order to exist.

"I gave my warriors quite a lot of resources in order to make them more powerful and take down those pesky elves, only for them to get destroyed by you."

"Tch, weaklings." The Transcendent spoke without an ounce of anger as it simply stared at Reign and the others.

"Interesting choice of an avatar, it created a whole body instead of simply allowing a part of his soul to exist here, not bad," Aethion spoke without an ounce of worry as Reign and the others were covered in sweat. The aura they could feel from the being in front of them was unlike anything they had felt before, even when they met gods they didn't feel like this.

It was of course thanks to the Transcendent in front of them not hiding his aura and allowing a part of it that was present to slip out, if Zeus and the others had released just a tiny bit of their aura when Reign and the others met them, they would have died immediately.

The aura and true form of someone that had reached godhood was not something that mere mortals could comprehend, their existence would simply cease to exist in the universe.

"So, what should I do with you, should I make you my slaves, should I torture you as punishment, or should I simply kill you?" The Transcendent spoke as his aura suddenly turned violent, Reign and the others could feel an incredible pressure enveloping them, forcing them down to the ground.

They resisted with all their might, but their bodies were slowly bending down without wanting it to happen.

Suddenly

Each of their marks activated and appeared before them. A small bolt of lightning appeared in front of Reign while a violent flame appeared before Wolf. A horned head of a demon appeared in front of Tank whilst a narcissus appeared in front of Shadow.

A bow appeared in front of Beast whilst a pair of eyes appeared behind Greenie and stared at the Transcendent.

"T-that's!" The Transcendent shouted as he stared at the six marks in front of him. His aura was completely suppressed by the aura of the marks and he started sweating a bit.

"Five humans and each has a mark, not to mention a Vajra, what the hell are you guys?" The Transcendent spoke with confusion as he looked at them, he knew that he couldn't do anything to any of them.

He was a Tainted, one that had reached the realm of Transcendent. Even though he was part of an organization, he was just an ordinary member there that joined in order to get protection. If he dared attack and kill someone that had a mark of a god, then his organization would gladly give him up in order to foster a good relationship with the god in question.

The most powerful being in his whole organization was a Low God. Compared to the ones that had given Reign and the others their marks, even the leader of his organization was nothing much.

"I thought you lot were simply idiots that had no idea what would happen if you dared anger a Transcendent, who would have thought that you already knew that I could do nothing to you, tch, annoying."

The Transcendent spoke with an annoyed voice as Reign and the others stood in front of him, thanks to the marks that had appeared before, they no longer felt the oppression of the Transcendent's aura like before.

"So, why have you come here, you wanted to gloat or something?" The Transcendent spoke as he looked at Reign and the others.

"The core, tell him you have come for the core," Aethion spoke inside Reign's head.

"We came to get the core."

"The core, you little…" The Transcendent spoke before stopping himself, with a sigh he moved his arm as a red pearl suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Well, I no longer have any use for this base, so I guess it's fine."

"Take it, and get out." The pearl suddenly moved through the air before Reign caught it and stored it in the inventory. The Transcendent said nothing as he simply turned around and walked to the array formed out of the blood.

He went inside the array before it shone once more and disappeared. The blood that once flowed inside the pyramid was gone and the pyramid started shaking as Reign and the others stood on the platform that started rising.

"Aethion, what did we just get?"