Is this really a Game?!



"We will leave right after you guys, we won't be taking the main entrance since we don't want to alert people."

"After leaving, wait for us here, about 2 km away from the wall," Siggurd said as he showed Reign and the others the meeting place on the map.

"No problem." Reign said as they all nodded at each other.

Siggurd, Basred, and 7 more Tier IV combatants were wearing cloaks over their heads which made them more difficult to be detected, similar to the one that Reign wore after coming back from his challenge months ago.

With the details spoken over, they all nodded at each other before making their way to the main gate. Today was certain to be a restless day for everybody as they knew that once they found the artifact, it was highly likely that the demons would immediately charge at them.

Reign and the others made their way out as Liara walked a couple of meters away from Reign, glancing a couple of times at him as a slight blush appeared on her face.

'Stupid, stupid!' Liara thought to herself as she clenched her hands into fists.

'Why did you have to do that last night, just what is wrong with me?!'

Last night, just as Reign had arrived in the apartment that was given to him by Basred, he took a shower before he sensed someone arriving in front of his door. The person knocked on his door, and upon opening it, he was surprised to see Liara, who was wearing a cloak.

She entered the apartment and sat down on the bed without speaking a word. Reign at first believed that something might be wrong, but that wasn't the case.

She just wanted to spend the night with him. She didn't have an ulterior motive, she wasn't being influenced by the vortex and the soul fragments, and nothing of the kind happened.

It was simply Liara being nervous about what was going to happen the next day after they found the artifact. Nobody knew just what kind of a reaction the soul fragments in her would have, she didn't know if it would be beneficial to her or not, nor did she have any idea of what kind of artifact it was.

The fact that they would be attacked by demons was another thing that weighed heavily on her mind as she, as well as the rest, understood that there would be casualties tomorrow.

She just needed somebody to speak to, a person to lean on as her mental state had gotten bad. It was expected as the entire situation was enough to make anyone go crazy.

She found out that there were fragments of another being's soul inside her, fused with her soul.

She found out that there was a prison of some kind inside her soul, and from that prison, those imprisoned were able to influence her thoughts, making her act completely different from her usual self.

She spent the night with Reign the first day the two had met, and she even had her first time with him, not to mention the following events that happened without her knowing about it or having any control over her body.

She didn't show it, but she did grow increasingly nervous about what was going on. She didn't have any idea whether or not she would go back to normal ever again. She just wanted to spend some time with Reign, just to talk with him.

He was the one who found everything out and helped her out.

He was pretty much the only person she could talk to about these kinds of things as nobody else knew exactly what was happening with her, nor what had truly happened between the two.

As time passed and the two continued talking, Liara did something she didn't expect she would do.

She kissed Reign and led him to bed, and after that, well, one can imagine what happened.

The two acted as if nothing had happened the following morning, but she had to admit that she was a bit hurt by that.

Reign was the only man she ever slept with, and not because she lacked suitors, but because her standards were quite high.

Her partner had to be more powerful than her, and since she was the second-in-command of the region and was undoubtedly the second most powerful person there, the number of people who were stronger than her was not many.

The leader of her region was a woman, and the leaders of the other two regions were both older men who had no interest in being in a relationship, nor did Liara have an interest in being with them either.

The other two men who were as strong as she was didn't interest her either and she was fine with never finding a partner, and yet, that all changed without her even controlling it. She knew how beautiful she was, and she knew that almost any person would do almost anything to be with her, but when it came to Reign, it was as if he didn't care.

'Stupid Reign, if we all survive today, I'm definitely going to teach you a lesson, humph'

Liara said before blushing even more as she remembered how Reign said almost the exact same thing last night.

"You're the one that pushed me on the bed and removed my clothes, as well as yours, and now you're talking about how I'm a bad guy, seems like I need to teach you a lesson tonight."

What Reign did after that, as well as the sound she made later on, made her blush even more fiercely before she shook her head and calmed herself. 

Laura glanced at her with a confused expression before shaking her head and sighing slightly.

'She really needs to learn how to control her emotions, most of us already believe that something happened between the two of them, this is the same as confirming it.'

The walk over to the meeting place was a quick and peaceful one as they came across no demons. Siggurd, Basred, and the rest of the Tier IV combatants arrived a couple of minutes after them, upon which they all made their way to the area where Liara sensed the artifact.

Basred and Siggurd were both still wearing the cloaks, but they put their hoodies down as they had already disguised themselves.

They didn't want the demons to know they were with the group as that would certainly alert them.

"Leave the groups of demons we come across to us, we should be able to eliminate them before they manage to activate the device," Siggurd said as Reign and the others nodded.

Reign had already fought against a Tier V being before, so he knew that even though his transformation allowed him to become almost as powerful as one, he wouldn't be able to defeat a Tier V by himself.

Of course, that was partly because the battle suit that Nearsch wore back then was truly difficult to deal with and even a normal Tier V would have issues going up against it.

With these two joining them, he was certain that they would be able to get to the artifact without the demons knowing about their location at all.

The two were not only Tier V beings, but they were highly experienced Tier V combatants who were definitely stronger than an average one.

And just like Reign thought, during their trip to the area where the artifact was, the two Tier V combatants were able to defeat the groups of demons in an instant, each time managing to discover them from a large distance and deal with them before they were able to even notice the group.

As they arrived at the area, Liara sensed the artifact again, so they all followed the direction she was sensing the artifact from. Surprisingly, even after they had walked for over a mile, they still didn't come across the artifact.

"I didn't expect you to be able to sense it from such a large distance." Reign said with slight surprise as Liara nodded.

"Me neither, the feeling is becoming stronger, the call that I can sense is making me a bit restless, so I am sure that we don't need to walk for much longer in order to find the artifact." 

Reign and the others nodded at Liara as they walked forward.

She felt as if her entire being was getting more and more excited with each step she took, and after they had walked for about 150 more meters, she suddenly stopped.

"Behind it, it's behind." Liara's words made them all stop and look at her in confusion as she took two steps back.

"It's right here."

"Below the ground?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it, I can sense it even more clearly."

Reign and the others nodded before spreading out.

Two people stepped forward and nodded at each other before using their abilities, which were both nearly the same and allowed them to control the soil and rocks.

The ground started caving in more and more until something was heard and a large portion of the ground suddenly crashed down as a wide hole was suddenly present in front of Reign and the others.