When Stark woke up again, he was in his apartment.
The familiar smell of warm food and the soft light filtering through the windows welcomed him back to consciousness.
But before he could fully take in his surroundings, he felt something, or rather, someone, cling to him tightly.
“YOU’VE BEEN OUT FOR TWO WEEKS AGAIN!” Lana’s voice rang in his ears as she practically tackled him into a hug.
Sora followed right behind, though not as bold as she just gently grabbed his arm, “It is nice to know you aren’t… gone.”
Stark blinked, trying to process the sudden rush of emotions, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been stuck in that void for a while, haven’t I…’
“Two weeks, heh…”
Lana nodded, her expression a mix of relief and annoyance, “Yes! Two weeks, Stark! We’ve been taking turns watching over you every single day.”
“That’s… okay,” Stark didn’t need it, as his aura itself preserved him from dying of hunger or thirst, he had passed out for 3 months at one point after all!
Stark scratched the back of his head, trying to recall the dream he’d had.
The apostles, Godless… it all seemed so real.
But looking at Lana and Sora now, he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of peace, “I guess I should thank you both,” he muttered awkwardly.
Lana smiled warmly, brushing her hair behind her ear, “Just… try not to scare us like that again, alright?”
Stark shrugged as he knew this wasn’t possible, but inside, his mind was already racing.
The void… the chains that stopped him from kicking Godless’s ass… the apostles… it wasn’t over yet.
He could feel it in his bones. And now, there was something he had to do.
Something urgent.
Without a word, Stark reached into his inventory and pulled out the [Colosseum Token].
“H-Hey, what are you doing?!” Lana suddenly shouted while pulling out from the embrace, and even Sora seemed surprised.
“Need… to… do something…” he mumbled, more to himself than them as he stared at the token, a vortex of aura forming in his eyes.
The atmosphere of the room suddenly darkened as Stark woke up, his aura spreading everywhere.
After such a dream, after sensing the power of the Godless Demon, after knowing that he would soon descend, he couldn’t stay idle.
The quicker he got rid of those things, the quicker he would be able to get rid of Godless, for in the end, only one of them can live.
The air shimmered around him as the token’s magic began to work, pulling him back into the Colosseum’s tower.
“You…” Sora’s eyes widened slightly, “You’re going to find ‘him’?”
“HUH?!” Lana was terrified, “Where is Stark going?!”
Stark gave her a serious look, “I have to find the apostle,” he said firmly and extremely fast, “If I don’t kill him before the second trial ends, I’ll never complete the ApostleDex.”
And with that, he vanished, leaving behind a room filled with the faint glow of magic.
“What the fuck?” Lana was flabbergasted, “Kill the apostle? The ApostleDex? Did he finally go crazy??!”
“…” Sora didn’t say anything, maybe she understood a bit of it with the information she got until then, but she still couldn’t get the full picture yet.
“:(” Lana was sad that he left as soon as he got up, “This s-stupid idiot!”
“It’s fine,” but Sora patted her head, “I am sure that Stark thinks fondly of you, he will be back.”
These were all the reassuring words she could give, or rather the only ones she could find in herself, as she usually wouldn’t say stuff like that.
…
Stark materialized in the Colosseum Tower’s ninth-floor safe zone, his shoes touching the familiar stone ground as the token’s magic dissipated.
The safe zone was quiet, and it looked just as luxurious as two weeks ago.
Without wasting a second, he set off.
His goal was clear: find the secret area where the last apostle was hiding, and teach that asshole a lesson by making him eat the ground.
The Colosseum Tower was vast, but each floor consisted of one safe-zone and one arena, whether it was big or decent-sized depended on the elite/boss though.
[No secret areas in safe-zones, by the way,] he was informed, which was good.
Hours passed after that.
Hours where Stark searched meticulously through all ten of the arena zones, but found absolutely nothing.
“Maybe… I didn’t search hard enough?” he had mostly just looked around and searched the walls.
Surely, he would need to look deeper if he wanted to find it.
[3 months and 2 weeks left!]
The secret area was well-hidden, as expected.
Stark gritted his teeth, frustration gnawing at him as the clock ticked down without finding anything meaningful.
“Dammit…” Stark muttered to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow as he stood in the center of yet another empty arena.
His crimson aura flickered faintly, reacting to his growing frustration. “Where the hell is it?”
Despite his best efforts, the secret area remained hidden.
Stark paused, staring into the distance, his mind racing.
With ten floors to explore, he realized this would take much longer than he had anticipated.
Even with his speed and determination, the task felt monumental.
Finally, after six hours of fruitless searching, Stark sighed heavily.
He needed to reassess his approach.
He had more than three months, so he needed to think about his strategy better, maybe spend one week searching every floor?
In the end, he decided to think about it later, and so he reached for the token once more, activating it with a quick thought.
…
“This is annoying…” he bit into his nail while remembering the structure of all ten floors.
“STARK!” but then he heard a shout beside him, and arms wrapping tightly around him. “You came back quickly! Did you miss me, perhaps?”
Stark blinked, momentarily caught off guard by Lana’s enthusiasm.
He opened his mouth to explain why he had returned so soon but quickly decided against it.
Instead, he gave a half-smile. “Yes, I missed you both.”
Lana beamed, clearly pleased with his response, though Sora, who was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee, wasn’t so easily fooled, “It is great to see you think so highly of us.”
Still, it didn’t matter, Stark was back, and for the moment, that was enough.
“Of course, anything for my friends.”
He hadn’t found any clues for the secret zone, but this sight appeased him slightly.
‘Yeah, be positive, Stark, still more than three months remain!’
For now, they had completed the second trial.
With more than three months remaining before the next one began, there was literally nothing for them to do except wait.
Not a single other group had managed to complete the trial yet, and so the trio had time to rest.
Time began to pass like that.
…
Every day, Stark returned to the Colosseum Tower, spending up to five hours searching for the elusive secret area.
Each day, he combed through different floors, testing every possible theory, every hint of a hidden passage.
But it was slow-going, and after each day of searching, he would return to the apartment empty-handed.
Lana would often ask him what he was doing, her curiosity piqued by his mysterious outings.
“Where do you go every day?” she asked one morning over breakfast, her eyes narrowing slightly, “You’ve been vanishing for hours everyday inside the tower!”
“Secret thing,” Stark replied, his tone casual as he took a bite of his food.
And it wasn’t even a lie, he was quite literally searching for something secret.
Meanwhile, Sora had started visiting more frequently, often staying overnight at Lana’s apartment.
The two women had grown closer, becoming good friends, tt was a strange but comforting dynamic, and Stark appreciated the calm that came with it.
Every night, before sleeping, he would close his eyes and think of the floors, imagining anything he could have possibly missed.
Just like that, the trio had fallen into an easy rhythm.
Stark continued his daily searches, while Lana and Sora spent their time relaxing or doing their own hobbies.
Occasionally, Sora would help with cooking, though Stark or Lana usually took over, their culinary skills better suited to the task.
The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months.
And then, three months and a week passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
There was now only one week before the trial ended.
“Holy shit…” and Stark hadn’t found anything.
