Chapter 5: (CH4)LAYING LOW
The second they stepped into Luis’s cramped apartment, Zyx flopped onto the couch like a dropped marionette, limbs sprawled, feet kicked up on the old coffee table without a care in the world.
"Ahhh," he sighed dramatically, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Sweet, sweet obscurity. Nothing better than being a nobody in a crowd of a million Hosts. Keeps you off the radar and off the kill lists."
Luis didn’t answer. He locked the door, checked it twice, then yanked the curtains shut. Only then did he finally let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. His hands were still shaking.
"You said something earlier," he muttered, tossing his ruined hoodie into the corner. "About cheating?"
Zyx let out a snort. "Kid, there’s no such thing as cheating in the Ascension Royale. The gods upstairs are watching this thing 24/7. It’s the biggest divine reality show since mortals invented drama. Try to game the system, and the system just... adapts. Usually by making your insides your outsides."
Luis frowned. "Then... what’s the move?"
"The move," Zyx said, sitting up and gesturing vaguely toward the outside world, "is to stay off the radar. Right now, every flashy Host out there is basically waving a giant neon sign that says ’please kill me.’ The veterans, the WHI, the monsters—they’re all targeting the ones who look dangerous first. So we don’t look dangerous. We keep low. We stay boring. And when we do kill monsters, we do it where no one’s watching."
Luis rubbed his temples, exhaling slowly. "So... we hide?"
"We strategize," Zyx corrected, pointing at him. "You’re Level 1. You’ve got me—God of Misfortune. Which, yes, sounds like a joke because it is. You’re not beating some dude who throws lightning or turns into walking titanium. So we don’t fight them. We let them thin each other out."