Down With The Gods

Mira holds Lisa tightly, so tightly that Lisa struggles to breathe. Yet, Lisa doesn’t react, her body frozen in place, eyes wide open, unblinking. It's as if she's in a state of severe shock, trapped in a whirlwind of memories and disbelief flashing through her mind.

“Is this really my big sister?” Lisa thinks to herself.

Wyn waves his hand in front of Lisa, but still, there's no reaction. Yu pokes Mira in the arm several times, there’s no response from her either.

“What’s going on here?” A dark-skinned soul asks.

Mira releases Lisa, looks her straight in the eyes, ignoring the man. “I’ve finally found you!” She says.

“How? What happened? Why are you down here? Are you really Mira? What’s going on? Did I die again?”

As Mira explains to Lisa everything there is to explain, Lisa profusely weeps.

“I missed you. I didn’t know how to live without you. I was so scared,” Lisa says, choking.

“I’m here now. Nothing will take you away from me again!”

“Errr, what’s happening here Lisa?” The same man asks.

Lisa looks back at the man, Mpilo, whose name requires a click sound which Lisa has mastered pronouncing. Introducing him to Mira, Mpilo is Lisa’s current party leader since the Dojo. Throughout their adventure on this floor, Mpilo has been caring for her as if she were his little sister. Mira takes the opportunity to introduce her team, including James, to Lisa.

“Come with us! Join us!” Mira pleads.

“Don’t leave us! We love you!” Mpilo adds.

“Okay, bye now, Mister Mpilo. Thank you for everything!”

“Wh...what???”

“I’m kidding. I refuse to be separated from my sister ever again. You know this.”

“Then she can join us.”

Wyn doesn't like the sound of that one bit. If he could trade James for Lisa, he would do it in a heartbeat. Despite Mpilo showing off his impressive essence count, Mira politely declines his offer, thanking him for looking after her little sister. But Mpilo seems reluctant to let Lisa go so easily. He calls on the rest of his group for backup.

“You guys were a family to me, and I humbly thank you all for everything. But my sister, she’s…she’s the world to me. Wherever she goes, I’ll follow even if it’s to my own death,” Lisa explains, sobbing.

The sight of Lisa weeping breaks Mplio’s heart. During their time together, Lisa had mentioned how inseparable she was from her big sister. “If I get to see her just once, I can die happy,” was the remark that hauntedly imprints deep into Mpilo’s brain.

“Alright. You know, I’m very upset, haha. Well, once you’re off our team, there is no way in Hell you can contact us. We’ll miss you, our great support.”

“Thank you, Mplio. Thank you all for everything.”

Lisa bids a warm farewell to the now former team of hers. She appears to be genuinely well liked by them. Tears of sadness fill the already sad-ridden campsite.

Cateti, a cat with joint issues, springs stiffly to Wyn. Since Hell’s Ride can be unforgiving, Cateti warns Wyn and team to “get used” to the depressing atmosphere at campsites.

“You know what else is stiff?” James says, hoping to attract Mira’s attention, though he’s given none.

Just when Lisa’s former team leaves the premises, Mira asks Wyn to add her to the team. She wants to gather everyone in Wyn’s tent. Similar to a programmed bot asking for verification via a captcha, Wyn proceeds with his.

“How many gen…Ugh, fuck that. For Mira!” Wyn declares as he adds Lisa to the team.

“For Mira!” the rest of the team echoes, except for Christine and definitely not James.

“How is this fair?” James protests.

“Oppa, if you don’t add him to the team, I’ll have to force my way with you sooner or later.”

“Alright, Landon, you’re in…but after this question! Dun dun dun! Which is your favorite SCL club?”

“The Deadmonton Foilers.”

“Lame, but acceptable. I would’ve liked to hear the Bancouver Yucklucks.”

Just like that, the team’s number grows by two. Wyn becomes increasingly worried about managing a larger group, though he's more than happy to honor Mira by including Lisa. And while he has some reservations about James, he knows what to expect.

As Anish, Mira, James, and Lisa chat, Wyn and Yu observe that Christine seems agitated, as if she’s trying to avoid someone.

“Look who we have here! It’s really her, the liar, the gossiper, the ‘falsephet’,” says a stranger soul.

“What? Who?” Wyn asks.

The male soul points to Christine, who suddenly rushes back to her tent. Yu wants to follow, however, he’s more intrigued to hear what the male soul has to say.

“Why are you so rude? Go apologize to her, now!” Yu demands.

“How long has she been on your team?”

“A while…,” Wyn replies.“Then you might already know she spreads false information about other members. We used to call her ‘falsephet’.”

Yu seems uneasy as he listens. He doesn’t want to hear someone negatively portray Christine like this, but something in him tells him to keep listening.

“If I recall, she was with another team prior to joining us. Must be yours. Did you really kick her out because she was weak?”

The male soul's face darkens with anger. He asserts that the real reason they let her go was because she was causing misunderstandings among the members, leading several strong members to leave the party with her lies. In fact, Christine was one of the stronger members, and that was the sole reason they invited her to join the party at the Dojo.

The man wishes Wyn good luck as he reunites with his team. Wyn are Yu are silent. Yu looks sad.

"Let's fetch the rest. We should welcome our new members at my tent," Wyn says, draping his arm around Yu's neck.

In Wyn’s tent, Mira introduces Lisa to the team, though Christine refuses to appear. With Yu's permission, Wyn shares the incident involving Christine’s former team, considering how it might affect the team's dynamics. James reflects on the news while Mira and Anish look at Yu, leaving the tent in silence. Shortly after, Wyn notices Anish’s head gradually turning to stare at Lisa’s chest. He gives Anish a sharp prod.

“I’m very sorry, Miss Lisa, but where bobs? Are you two really sisters?”

“Look! They’re here!” Mira exclaims, juggling what little Lisa has while Lisa blushes and tries to stop her sister.

“Welcome to the flat LCD screen club, Lisa,” Wyn chimes in.

“Think of it as inflation versus pay raise. Hers are like a pay raise that can’t keep up with inflation,” Mira adds, trying her best to defend her little sister's bust.

“I don’t get it...Doesn’t it run in your family? I mean, yours were small too before the surgery,” Yu says, genuinely confused.

Lisa takes the opportunity to explain how she and her former team had already explored most of Hell’s Ride. They were just about to return to the Abandoned City to celebrate at a bar before challenging a champion. At every crucial point in her story, Wyn keeps apologizing for her having to settle with a weaker team like his. However, Lisa repeatedly reassures him that the decision was entirely her own and that he shouldn’t feel responsible.

Lisa wears a white and brown striped boatneck top, light blue jeans, and light purple sneakers. Though her bust is unimpressive, she shares Mira’s face shape and hazel eyes, but her black hair is tied back, and she’s noticeably shorter – three to four centimeters shorter than Christine. Unlike Mira, Lisa renounced her faith long before her sister became a model. She used to joke around with Mira that she’d be happier in Hell than to have to look at poker in the eye in Heaven.

After Mira left the agency, she tried to push Lisa into fame, but Lisa was met with derogatory comments from viewers, who noted that she lacked the shine and personality Mira had. Instead, Lisa settled for a career as a graphic designer at a large company and felt content with it. However, she found herself in a toxic relationship with a psychotic boyfriend who enjoyed gaslighting her. When she tried to break up with him, he threatened to harm Mira, who remained in the dark about the situation.

One day, on her way to work, her bus swerved off the road while trying to avoid running over a child and crashed into a building. She was twenty-four at the time of her end.

“You kept your promise. We’re sisters again! I’m happy and sad at the same time. I feel so selfish,” Lisa says.

“Shush it! I’m glad I’m in Hell,” Mira replies. “If you'd told me about your ex, I would’ve kicked his ass for you!”

Lisa hugs her sister, not uttering a single word.

“In Hell, we trust,” Yu jokes.

Since Mira and Lisa have a lot to catch up on, they decide to spend the next twenty hours together in Mira’s tent. Despite all the toys she has amassed, Lisa isn’t surprised; she knows her big sister too well. Meanwhile, the guys are left to themselves. Before Wyn makes a purchase for an AI, he turns his attention to James.

“What’s your story?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Everyone here shares their story. It’s part of getting to know each other.”

James, born in Cannothing, was a bright high school student who secured a spot at a prestigious university in the USA. Before graduating in dentistry, he already had a job lined up at a renowned hospital in Otterwa, thanks in part to his parents' powerful connections. James was a spoiled child, accustomed to being served by caretakers, maids, chefs, and chauffeurs. Even at university, his parents provided him with a butler and a house. All his friends were wealthy, spoiled kids, much like his former team members.

One fateful summer, James returned to his hometown before starting his new job. Unaware that his parents were in deep debt, he was ambushed by debt collectors, who had tracked him down through his butler. They told him they needed to send a message to his parents and shot him in the head while he was waiting for his butler to pick him up after a day out with friends.

“I’m more distraught by the fact that I was kept in the dark by my parents,” James says.

“So…dark,” Yu remarks.

“We all have our stories. Thanks for sharing yours. Now I understand why you are the way you are. BUT! I won’t tolerate it as your leader.”

“Right…Well, at least I appreciate you genuinely listening to my story, eh.”

Instead of returning to his own tent, Yu begs Wyn to let him stay in his. He seeks company after hearing some unpleasant remarks about Christine, which he felt were true but still left him feeling uncertain. Anish, also wanting to offer Yu some comfort, decides to rest in Wyn’s tent as well. James, for whatever reason, joins them despite Wyn’s protests to be left alone. With the second floor empty, Wyn now finds himself with three members sleeping on the first floor with him. At the very least, he’s accompanied by Anish’s loud snoring for the remainder of the timer.