The night after the exhausting clash, the group collapsed into sleep. Their bodies were battered, their spirits drained. But Sys did not rest.
He slipped into town, cloak trailing like ink, and found an inn. He paid for rooms, then used his ability to craft shadow doubles of each companion, leaving them sleeping soundly while he walked alone into the mercenary guild.
The guildmaster eyed him warily. "Name?"
"Sys," he said simply. He registered, accepted a mission, and returned before dawn.
---
### Morning
When the group awoke, they found themselves in the inn, rested but confused. Sys stood waiting, arms folded.
"I registered us with the mercenary guild," he said. "We have a mission. It lies in the desert."
Camelio frowned. "The desert? How are we supposed to get there?"
Sys's expression was unreadable. "I spent all our coin. But I will use Shadow Manifestation to create a carriage and horse."
William smirked, patting his plush horse. "I can ride alone. This one will carry me."
---
### The Journey
The carriage formed from shadow, sleek and dark, pulled by a horse with eyes like embers. The group climbed inside, William trotting beside them on his plush mount. The desert stretched ahead, endless dunes shimmering under the sun.
Inside the carriage, Jigoku sat quietly, gaze distant. At last, he called a messenger bird, tying a letter to its leg.
"To my apprentice," he murmured. "I must return to the sea. To my home beneath the waves. There I will seek my true ability and train. I have sent someone to replace me. She will meet you at the Pixeliseum."
The bird flew off, wings cutting through the desert sky.
Jigoku looked at the others. "By the time you reach the Pixeliseum, she will be waiting. I cannot walk this path with you."
And with that, he leapt from the carriage mid‑ride, vanishing into the horizon, toward the sea.
---
### Arrival
The carriage rolled on, shadows creaking under the desert sun. At last, the Pixeliseum rose before them — a vast arena of shifting light.
It did not look like stone or steel. Its walls were built from endless squares of glowing pixels, each surface shimmering, glitching faintly as if reality itself was struggling to render them. Towers rose like stacks of cubes, gates pulsed with jagged rhythms, and the whole structure hummed with energy.
William's plush horse slowed, stitched eyes reflecting the glow. Gudan muttered, "Looks like the world itself broke into squares."
Camelio's chameleon flickered nervously, its scales glitching in sympathy. "It feels… wrong. Like we're walking into a game."
Sys stood tall, katana at his side, its blade catching the pixel light. "This is the Pixeliseum. Here, battles are fought in fragments, in data, in the very building blocks of reality."
And waiting at the gates was the girl Jigoku had promised — a cute face framed by bright eyes, her chest generous, her smile confident.
She bowed slightly. "My name is Hope. Jigoku sent me. I'll be joining you."
The group exchanged glances, weary but curious. Sys's katana gleamed faintly at his side.
The road had changed. Jigoku was gone. Hope had arrived. And the Pixeliseum awaited.