Is this really a Game?!

"Well, that's about it for the arena, huh?" Drayce whispered as he stared at Reign and the others who had finally finished the battle. Reign was wounded and so was Greenie, Beast was the one who was in the worst state, however.

A melee battle was not his forte, but he was adamant about using his fused state during the fight as his power would grow above what he usually could possess without it. His hands and legs were completely destroyed by the tiger's sharp mouth, but they would be healed by the arena's healing array without any repercussions.

As for the second part of the hidden task, well, they would learn what was expected of them after they healed up.

…

In an underground base somewhere on Earth.

"This damned planet, what the hell is this?!" Aggaroth of the three Devas shouted as he punched the wall, creating large cracks that spanned for many meters.

"Calm down Aggaroth, it's not like did nothing," Imris said with a calm voice as he stared at the muscular man whose face was twisted in rage.

"Nothing, well that's pretty much what we did, we killed no one!" Aggaroth shouted once again as he stared down at Imris who sighed weakly.

"Well that's not true, we managed to persuade one to join our cause while we killed another." The bewitching Rithilla said as she sat down on a purple chair that shone brightly.

"Killed, we're not sure that that guy is dead, hell, I for one don't believe it," Aggaroth said as he leaned against a wall and tried to calm down.

"The higher-ups paid a steep price to send us here, even an Ancient was involved in this, do you have any idea what will happen to us if we come back with empty hands?!"

The Dark Ones had heard that the Alliance had found a new planet a long time ago and had kept watch on it. Upon seeing that the planet was nothing special, they first wanted nothing to do with it, it was only when many gods came to it that they found out that something was wrong and decided to send the three there in order to foil the Alliance's plans.

"The rise of this planet was unexpected, I doubt that the alliance will destroy it even if it fails to produce a Transcendent on time, hell, I doubt that will happen as well, there are already multiple people that are on a good track to Transcending, we need to make sure that the Alliance doesn't get full control over it," Aggaroth said with a gloomy expression on his face.

"The system's restriction is much higher than we initially expected, even the three of us who are Saints aren't allowed to simply go out and kill, especially not a seed of hope, the repercussions we will face thanks to attacking and possibly killing that one is way too high, we could perhaps kill two more and that would be it, otherwise we would have to spend a century or more in order to regain our Sainthoods," Imris said calmly as he looked at Aggaroth and Rithilla.

"The plan has changed, we need to try and recruit more people, the more the better, at least we will be able to plant more spies in the alliance, perhaps even get some new recruits with great potential."

"That's easy to say, but the alliance has already sealed off the area, they will definitely check if we have done anything, the overseer is a High God, he won't make any mistakes," Rithilla said as she crossed her legs.

"I know, that's why I used the marker."

"You used what?" Rithilla asked with wide-open eyes.

"Are you sure that that was the right thing to do?" Aggaroth asked Imris as the latter nodded.

"We have to get in touch with the council, we're in the dark here, who knows what might have happened outside, the marker is a rare commodity, I know, but we still have 2 more, I expect that the council will reward us for our efforts, however, as I don't believe that any other team would have been able to do as much as we did so far, hell, most of them would get restricted by the system immediately and would probably fall to the leveling phase right away."

Suddenly a red dot appeared in front of Imris. The three quickly stopped talking as the dot enlarged and a blood-red scroll was suddenly in front of Imris.

He quickly grabbed the scroll and opened it, slowly reading through the contents before closing it with a sigh.

"We are to continue the mission, but as we figured, it has changed to getting more people on our side, not only that but we are prohibited from killing the humans if we don't have a second choice, the seeds of hope and those with high potential are off limits completely."

"What, we are prohibited from killing any, why the hell would they-"

"The Immortal has shown interest in this planet, he has already been spotted here, he's in the middle of putting a claim on the planet." Aggaroth and Rithilla both stood up with their eyes opened wide in shock.

"The Immortal."

"Has put a claim?"

"Yeah, that person hasn't done anything to affect the universe in millennia at least, I doubt he will put a full claim, probably a shared one with the alliance, or perhaps a claim on some areas, but that's enough to make it known that this planet is off limits to anyone."

"You understand what that means, right?" Imris glanced at the two who promptly nodded at him. Their backs were drenched in a cold sweat as they thought of the repercussions that would come if they started killing people here.

The Immortal Army was one of the rare factions in the universe that was neutral, the members of the army would occasionally go out and find work, fighting for those that offered the most.

A millennia ago, something happened. Members of the Immortal army had joined armies from both the Alliance and the Dark Ones, they never fought against an army that had one of their own, but all the others were fair game.

Some of the generals of the armies were annoyed, however. They thought that since the members had joined them, they shouldn't be acting so high and mighty and deny fighting against each other. Some had even gone as far as even insulting them, and even their leader.

It was only a short period of time before the whole universe found out what happens to those that do such things. The members of the Immortal army that had their leader insulted returned the payment and left their posts.

The next day, 2 Ancient Gods, 5 High Gods, 12 Middle Gods, tens of Low Gods, hundreds of Saints, and thousands of Transcendents were found dead.

The Immortal and his army didn't take kindly for those presumptuous enough to insult them. Even though both sides suffered heavy casualties, nobody dared take revenge for the fallen. Not only was the Immortal Army a powerful faction in the universe, but the Immortal had many friends and those that owed him favors.

If the Immortal Army were to join any of the 2 factions, the war would be over.

"One wrong step, and we will die, our faction might get implicated as well," Imris said with a heavy voice before looking at the two who had solemn faces.

"As for the rewards, this is what the council is offering." Imris opened the scroll once again and showed it to the two who had their eyes opened wide once again.

"This much."

"It, it would be enough," Rithilla said.

"Yes, it would not only be enough to clear our debt, but reaching Godhood would also not be a problem, the council surely knows how to tempt us," Imris said with a dejected expression before closing the scroll.

"It's no wonder the Alliance calls us the Dark Ones," Aggaroth said with a chuckle as Imris and Rithilla glared at him.

"Shut your mouth, you know what happens to those in the faction that dare use that name."

"Why, we do act like that, killing the inhabitants of other planets, speeding up the process of any planet we find, making them kill each other in hopes of producing great talents, it's no wonder that the rest of the universe sees us as the bad guys."

"It doesn't matter what others think, the winners are those that write history, no matter the end-meets if we manage to win in the end, then it will all be worth it," Rithilla said with a stern voice as Aggaroth shrugged his shoulders.

"So what do we do now?"

"Our integration to the planet and the system present here is almost finished, after that we will be able to create safe zones of our own, of course, they will need to be hidden from the alliance as those will be where we will recruit people," Imris said before standing up.

"We won't show ourselves if not necessary, simply sending out avatars should suffice, do be careful not to be found out when creating the safe zones and operating them, there are some powerful Transcendents here, and we will be in trouble if they spot us."

"Ughh, why couldn't they simply send some Low Gods over to make the zones?" Aggaroth complained as the other two glanced at him.

"Don't be dumb, you know that the restrictions from the system only become worse after one reaches a higher level of existence, only those that stand on the top, like the Immortal, can exist outside of the system and its rules."

"Yeah, I know, but talking about that guy, doesn't the system have something against him, I heard both he and the ne-"

"Stop, we won't be mentioning them here, let's go."Imris glared at Aggaroth sternly before the latter nodded his head in agreement.