THE GOD OF MISFORTUNE
Chapter 4: (CH3)THE VETERAN’S PRIVILEGE

Chapter 4: (CH3)THE VETERAN’S PRIVILEGE

The sniper’s bullet had missed him by maybe six inches—close enough to leave Luis’s ears ringing, knees shaking, and heart thudding so loud it felt like it might rip through his chest. As he pressed tighter against the cold metal of the dumpster, he couldn’t shake the image of what he’d just seen: that shadow-knight, towering and silent, lingering in his vision like a burn behind his eyes. Its hollow gaze seemed to track him even now.

"Wait," Luis whispered, barely able to hear his own voice over the pounding in his head. "You said gods are assigned randomly. So... how does that guy get a soldier?"

Zyx, for once, didn’t have a quick quip. His smirk faltered, and something in his posture shifted—like he suddenly remembered a meeting he really didn’t want to attend.

"Ah," he said. "Right. Forgot to mention the vetting system."

A new screen lit up across Luis’s vision. Not a broadcast this time. Something older. Deeper. Script written in glowing gold that pulsed like a heartbeat. He didn’t know how he could read it—but he could.

[ASCENSION ROYALE HISTORICAL RECORDS][LAST CYCLE’S SURVIVING GODS: 17 / 1,000,000][VETERAN STATUS: ACTIVE]

"Most of us?" Zyx gestured to himself. "We’re the random draw. Spin the wheel, assign the freaky god to the unlucky soul, rinse and repeat."

He pointed toward the rooftop, where the sniper had stood just moments ago.

"But the ones who survived the last cycle? They earned the right to choose."

Luis blinked. His brain connected the dots—and didn’t like what it formed. "Krathos... won before?"

"Twice." Zyx’s tone went flat. No jokes now. "His Hosts always play the long game. Soldiers. Mercs. People who take orders without blinking. They know how to move through the chaos. Most of them? Already embedded. WHI’s probably full of ’em by now."

As if the world wanted to prove the point, a police scanner nearby crackled to life. Garbled voices, overlapping commands.

"All units, we have confirmed god-touched individuals at City Hall—wait, no, they’re inside the—"

The broadcast cut off in a wave of static and screams.

Luis gritted his teeth. "And the other sixteen?"

"Oh, they’re out there." Zyx started counting off on his fingers. "Sylphine, goddess of silent steps—assassin types. Borr the Thunder Tyrant—loves riot gear and civil war zones. And then there’s—"

BOOM.

Three blocks away, a building blew apart from the inside. No monsters this time. Just raw power.

Glass fell like rain, and through the cloud of dust and smoke walked a figure cloaked in living lightning. Their body glowed with crackling arcs. Behind them shimmered a shape in the air—twisting heat, barely visible, but Luis could make out the grinning outline of a demon behind the light.

[HOST IDENTIFIED: ELECTROKINETIC CLASS][PATRON GOD: RAJJAK THE STORMBRINGER (3-TIME VETERAN)]

Zyx let out a long sigh, like this kind of thing happened all the time. "Case in point."

Another tick on the counter.

[997,112 SURVIVING HOSTS]

Luis stared, breath caught in his throat, as the lightning-wreathed Host casually advanced on someone else—a man with cactus-like spikes jutting out of his skin. The spined guy looked terrified, stumbling backward as his own god—a tiny, flickering sprite—floated around his head, clearly panicking and yapping instructions he couldn’t follow fast enough.

The lightning Host didn’t hesitate. Just moved, precise and clinical.

Luis turned away, jaw clenched. "It’s not fair."

Zyx actually laughed. A full, sharp bark of amusement. "Kid, that’s the point. It’s never been fair. The veterans get warriors. Strategists. Trained killers."

He looked Luis up and down—singed hoodie, shaking hands, face pale.

"We get you."

Overhead, something shrieked. Not human. A Silver-class, Luis guessed, though he had no idea what that actually meant. The sniper’s god—Krathos—turned its helm toward the sound, and the Host vanished into the smoke, moving like a ghost on command.

Luis swallowed, voice barely holding steady. "Then... how do we even stand a chance?"

Zyx smiled. Not kind. Not reassuring.

It was the grin of someone who knew how to flip a loaded gameboard.

"Simple," he said. "We cheat."