“Oh hi, Cateto!” Mira greets the cat, now perched on Yu’s head. “Were you guys with him these past few days?”

  “We were? Wow, didn’t even notice!” Yu responds.

  “What about you, Lisa? What were you up to?” Wyn asks.

  “I…uh, passed out in my tent the whole time, Mister Wyn,” Lisa replies, rubbing her eyes.

  Once the square is packed with what seems like all of the elites, nerds, and the cats from the CATOTO family, except CATOTO himself, Pete begins speaking through a megaphone.

  “We’re gathered here because Heaven has initiated an invasion against us,” he announces, prompting a wave of murmurs from the crowd. “What’s unusual about this attack is that they’re invading level zero and levels one through three all at once.”

  “How?” voices from the crowd echo in bewilderment.

  “Each level was built to force Heaven to progress one level at a time,” Pete explains. “But it seems…”

  “The void warden – it’s the only explanation,” Big D interjects, though not smiling, his face unreadable, showing nothing but a neutral expression.

  Pete motions to the stage, calling up the leaders of each faction – Steve, Wei, and David – to strategize on which faction will take which floor.

  “They’re sending Zeus, Poseidon, and their so-called ‘friends’,” Pete announces.

  “I’m confused. Are they sending all the moderators from every level at once?” a concerned soul asks.

  “No,” Big D replies. “They’re from the same level. Think of Zeus and Poseidon as the moderators of the level, while the rest are ultra champions.”

  “I’m not entirely sure, but shouldn’t they only be sending souls?” Pete asks Big D.

  “We never specified that in our stipulations. So, technically, Heaven isn’t breaking any rules,” he replies, his expression remaining blank.

  “That’s bullshit,” a soul in the crowd mutters.

  Wyn leans toward Cateto, muttering, “Isn’t this a waste of time? We should be preparing, not talking.”

  “You are right, but all the non-elites have already been automatically sent to the first level. We need to strategize now, or it could be our last meeting,” Cateto replies.

  “All of them? Christine!” Yu exclaims in alarm.

  “Yu, you need to focus on yourself and the team,” Wyn says, looking him squarely in the eye. “Christine chose to leave, so right now, her importance is at the bottom of our list.”

  “I know…,” Yu replies, staring at the ground.

  With fewer members than the other two factions, Skill Tree and Neutrals opt to defend Lust’s level. They reason that even if they’re defeated, the invaders won’t have enough strength left to push all the way to the seventh level, assuming the other levels succeed in their defenses.

  In a surprising twist, Steve and Wei agree to cooperate on floor zero, leaving Freedom Faction to defend the first level and Imperial Order to cover the second, each faction led by their own “puppeteers.”

  “Onry Steve and I are our best shot at defeating a deity, ret arone two. Reave them to us whirle we reave the rest to you. Good ruck!” Wei says.

  Wei has a habit of intentionally replacing "l" with "r," claiming it's a subtle yet meaningful choice to renounce his “Western-ness” and reconnect with his Eastern roots.

  The man stands at one seventy-four with a lean, athletic frame, his slightly tanned skin hinting at an active lifestyle. His short black hair is neatly styled with a subtle side part. He wears a casual outfit consisting of jeans and an orange shirt proudly displaying his country’s flag on the chest. A sturdy pair of brown hiking boots completes his look.

  Next to him is Steve, roughly the same height as Wei but with a slightly bulkier build, exuding a relaxed, easygoing air. His fair skin and broad shoulders are complemented by a casual outfit: black cargo shorts paired with a bold white shirt featuring Uncle Sam pointing directly at the viewer. His white shoes are adorned with a stars-and-stripes motif. His sandy brown hair, slightly tousled as if styled by happenstance, mirrors his laid-back demeanor.

  “Oh hey, Crowd!” Wyn greets.

  Though Wyn would love to catch up with Crowd, time is tight. David descends from the stage and motions for everyone under him to gather near the shamali tree at the back of the square. Here, the faction sizes become all too clear: Skill Tree and all Neutrals combined barely reach one thousand souls, while the larger factions each number around two thousand.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Cateto leaps from Yu’s head to convene with his family, seemingly planning their role in the defense. David then, through a megaphone, announces the plan for tackling the third level. Since two ultra champion-ranked deities are leading the assault on each level, David’s team will focus on one, while Crowd’s team will handle the other. The rest are assigned to combat the invading souls.

  “I repeat, DO NOT hesitate to kill. This is a war!” David calls out.

  A large portal suddenly opens before the shamali tree, while two more appear on the square’s left and right.

  “Ours is the one behind,” David says, pointing to the portal. “We’ll come out in front of the hotel, facing where they’re advancing from. There’s a bit of distance before we engage.”

  With little time to strategize, the plan is simple: defend and survive. Cateto returns to Wyn’s team, accompanied by the other city cats, who take up perches all over Yu’s head and shoulders. He announces from his perch on Yu’s head that the Hell’s Ride cats will aid Freedom Faction, while the forest cats will support Imperial Order. Meanwhile, the dojo cats are joining Steve and Wei to assist CATOTO, who are currently defending level zero alongside Cerberus and non-elite souls.

  The other two factions begin moving into their respective portals, while Steven, Wei, and the dojo cats depart through the one on the stage. David’s team leads the way out, followed closely by Crowd’s. Wyn calls for his team to pause, wanting to be the last to go through.

  “This is serious,” Wyn says, his voice firm. “Promise me that everyone will protect each other and that we’ll never leave anyone behind. If anyone gets separated, I’ll come looking for you, rest assured.”

  The team gathers, arms wrapping around each other's necks. They take a deep breath with their eyes closed. Even without a heart, they sense the nerves coursing through them. The thought of being in an actual war, despite everything they've been through, frightens them.

  “We should get going,” Cateto says calmly, glancing toward the portal as the other cats exit, one by one.

  “Wait, are we safe from the level’s rules?” Wyn asks.

  “All of us are. There is a reason you were required to gather at least ten thousand essence – level rules now have no effect on us,” Cateto replies.

  With that, Wyn’s team finally enters the portal, holding each other’s hands firmly as they step through together.

  On the third level, the regular level cats, the armored cats, and the seventh level cats are quietly hiding in cable car stations while the invaders pick off the naked, terrified souls. The invaders, likely in the thousands, are all riding armored robots.

  Each metallic robot stands at least three meters tall, powered by an intricate network of hydraulics and servos that allow for impressive agility despite their bulk. Their legs and arms are thick and sturdy. At the end of each arm, there are specially designed openings that allow controlling souls to unleash their elemental powers.

  On their shoulders sit dual missile launchers, each capable of firing explosive projectiles. These real missiles can be rapidly reloaded, giving the robots a total of ten at their disposal, seemingly supplied from an internal chamber in the suit. Inside each machine, the souls controlling the robots occupy a windowed control room that provides a panoramic view of the battlefield.

  After incinerating an orgy pile to a crisp, the robot army advances toward the hotel. Midway through their march, they encounter a line of cats acting adorably cute and cuddly.

  “They’re so cute! Can I pet them?” one of the souls inside a robot asks.

  “What in the world! They’re so fat!” a nearby soul adds.

  “Remember what we talked about?” another replies.

  Heeding the warning, the first soul opens the window, which slides upward, and hurls cucumbers at the cats. As expected, the felines scatter in different directions. But before the army can move on, the floor beneath them suddenly freezes, immobilizing the robots' legs in place.

  “MMMEEEOOOWWW!”

  From their vantage point on the cable car stations above, the cats descend, their sharp claws and, for the armored ones, electrified spear-tips aimed at the robots' windows, ready to strike. The cat army, despite the robots' fortified windows, proves effective in causing panic among the Heaven souls.

  One cat claws at a robot but is swiftly incinerated by missiles; however, the resulting explosion damages the nearby robots, sending them crashing to the ground. As they fall, the windows open, allowing the souls inside to escape – only to be met with another wave of attacks from the cats. Some souls quickly lay tinfoil on the ground, causing any cat that steps on it to jump in surprise, leaving them exposed.

  While the demons halt Heaven’s army from advancing, Skill Tree and Neutrals emerge in front of the hotel.

  “Crowd, the deities are behind the army. We need to find a way to reach them while avoiding enemy souls,” David says, reading a message from the nerds.

  “Is that Lust over there?” someone in the crowd asks.

  The Lust they see now is clad in body armor. One side shimmers in blue, while the other swirls with a deep red.

  “She is defending her territory,” Catutu replies.

  “She is waiting for us! Let us press forward and fight by her side!” Catota urges.

  With that, David’s team leads the charge. As they reach Lust’s location, all the cats leap in different directions, enlarging themselves so much that they bounce nearby souls away.

  “We cats may not have elemental abilities, but you can use us as amplifiers for your powers!” Cateto calls out to Wyn.

  “And how do we do that exactly?” Wyn asks.

  “Just touch my tail and the main attacker’s power can grow up to five times stronger!”

  “Oh, thank barbie, it’s the tail!” Yu exclaims.

  “There are too many cats! I don’t want to hit them!” Wyn exclaims.

  “Do not worry; they will know to move!” Cateto reassures him.

  Wyn places his hand on Cateto’s thick tail, while Mira and Lisa rest their hands on Wyn’s shoulders. As Cateto’s tail glows in colors that correspond to the elements, his mouth opens wide, and a thunderous “MOVE, MEOW” reverberates through the air. A massive electrifying fiery cyclone erupts from his mouth, obliterating several robots in an instant, though a few demons obstructed by the robots also take the hit.

  “This is war, so do not worry about us cats. Defend at all costs!” Cateto announces. “Give them HELL!”