Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

I laze around in the VIP Viewing Room for a while without any of the Class S hunters trying to approach me. Mostly because of Chaos, who is right next to me. And eventually the MC for the Planetary Official System Event finally begins speaking as the event begins.

"And we're finally here for another Class S Planetary Event!!! Welcome! To the Heart Defeeeense Raaaaace!!!" the MC immediately declares, making the audience in the bleachers watching go crazy with applause. Which honestly feels weird to watch from this position, seeing as I'm used to watching from the actual event lobby down there instead of anywhere else. "Many of you gamers in the audience may recognize this event as being somewhat similar to a certain type of video game! Yes! You guessed it! A tower defense game!"

Huh. I didn't realize tower defense games were universal.

"Assume that almost everything from Val is also on other planets in some form at the very least," Chaos suddenly says in my mind while opening his eyes and glancing at the screen in front of his face despite still lounging around on his throne.

Understood.

"Before we begin, let us flip a coin to decide which team goes on offense first!" the MC continues while manifesting some fancy golden coin in his hand and floating down towards the leaders of the two teams. He then lets them decide on which side of the coin they want before letting them flip it. "And it looks like it's heads! Which means the majestic Dhalia may choose which phase her team will start out on!"

I lean my cheek against my fist with my elbow resting on the armrest of the throne I'm sitting on as I watch her choose the offense phase.

Which makes sense to me. After all, the offense phase is a lot less complicated than the defense phase, and doing it first means her team can get a sneak peek at the defense phase while the other team tries it out first.

And through that she'll be able to figure out what not to do during it.

Whereas the offense phase is literally just to run through the race and survive.

A rather simple objective, if you ask me.

At least in structure.

Anyways, after deciding on their phase order, the MC floats back upwards as a large race route appears at the center of the arena grounds. With the route itself being a rather simple one, with a zigzagging route going in the shape of a large rectangle.

Although it's not just that as there are really tall walls on both sides of the route. Walls lines with what look like little plots of land that are no doubt for those tower placements.

There are even little balconies stretching from the walls in some areas. Which are also clearly for tower placements.

"Let's start things off with a quick setup phase from our lovely defense team!" the MC – who still hasn't introduced himself – says with a grin on his face. "They will have ten minutes to create a defense using the allotted 3000 Skill Points given to them by the System along with any of their own personal Skill Points they may wish to use for this! Then the offense team will be allowed to enter the route and begin their run!"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I silently watch as the defense team quickly gets to work setting up defenses around the route. But I find this to be rather boring rather quickly.

Mostly because they're just setting up defenses.

So while I wait, I ask Chaos, "Was it the Primordials who came up with the whole classification system, or did the System do that?"

Chaos glances at me before looking back at the screen again with a random candy suddenly appearing in his hand before he sticks the candy on a stick into his mouth, letting the stick just stick outwards. Then he answers without moving from his position, "It was Justicar who set up that classification System. But the natural means to evolve were always set in stone and were how we ourselves evolved over time. So he just stuck a name to each of the stages."

Ah. That explains it then.

Although…

"Why did he go from Class E to Class A, then suddenly skip to Class S?" I ask while tilting my head, not really understanding the leap in logic there. "Does Class S stand for something, or is it just a completely random change in the letter ordering?"

Chaos turns to look at me and blankly stares for several seconds before finally facing forwards again and answering rather bluntly, "I have no idea. You'd have to ask him, because he refuses to answer anyone as to why he chose that letter."

Huh. Maybe he just likes the letter S?

"You may have noticed a lot of video games and novels using Class S as well, even from before the System," Chaos says, sounding slightly befuddled with his fellow Primordial right now. "Well now you know why."

Wow. He really likes that letter.

I still don't understand it though.

Why would you go through the normal letters of the alphabet, E through A, and then suddenly jump to S out of nowhere? It just doesn't make any sense.

Maybe S stands for Special or something like that?

I don't know.

If I ever meet Justicar, I really should ask him about this.

Also, I just noticed that the people in the viewing room here are all staring at me and Chaos. Without a single one of them so much as looking at the current defense phase team as they finish up their defenses.

I guess a Primordial and his only Successor do kind of make for an unusual spectacle.

Unusual enough that I'm willing to bet that there are all sorts of things posted about this on the System Forums already.

Although I get the feeling it may not be public, seeing as the only people here are Class S hunters. Except me. And I doubt Class S hunters are going to go chatting in random public forum threads.

On that note, someone is actually beginning to approach me. Which is rather surprising, considering how quiet they've all been.

It only takes me a simple identify to realize who this person is though.

The king of the Sil Gray Kingdom, King Arnos Sil Gray. Who also happens to be the father of that prince I took skills from a while back.

I watch for a moment as he approaches, only for the king to give a deep nod of his head towards Chaos as he says, "Greetings to the Universal Raven," then he turns towards me and continues, "and to the Queen of Destruction."

My eyes narrow a little bit, meanwhile Chaos just yawns and ignores the man as he continue watching the screen. One showing the offense team as they begin to make their way down the route.

"Would you be willing to set up an alliance between our peoples?" King Arnos Sil Gray asks with a rather determined look in his eyes as he stares straight into mine, not even bothering with Chaos's blatant ignoring of him. "I will make it worth your while."

I stare at him for a few seconds, only occasionally glancing back at the screen every once in a while due to the offense team actually struggling against some massively powerful towers – except Dhalia – before answering him, "Send me a message after this."

He gives me a quick bow of his head, states, "Of course, Your Highness," and beats a hasty retreat. Leaving me to watch the event again alone by Chaos.

But before I can really think about what just happened, a powerful shockwave suddenly explodes outwards from the arena when Dhalia's attack clashes head on with an attack from the other team's leader.

My jaw almost drops open at the fact that the shockwave was so powerful it actually affected us here, not to mention the audience watching in the bleachers.

Holy shit…

So this is the power of Class S hunters.

A grin spreads across my face.

Good.

I want to reach that height.

"And you will," Chaos says, his words echoing in my head as I watch the Class S hunters battle. "There's no doubt about that."