Noah looked at the clock. There were less than 15 minutes left. He still hadn't found his partner. Even though that blessing had appeared (very kind of that rabbit, by the way), it was very difficult for him to find someone with her figure.
He regretted leaving Ava alone. He had seen a girl with pink hair and a yellow circle before.
The idea of giving up crossed his mind. No, he couldn't. He had to move on. Not because he wanted to be alive or not. That didn't matter to him. He wanted to know what the hell was going on, and how a damn stuffed rabbit was talking and flying in the sky.
"Last 10 minutes, players!" talking about the devil... "I'm going to give you one last bonus! Look at your System!"
A large red button appeared in the System.
"If you press this button, an arrow will appear to show you the direction in which your partner is located!" However, you only have 10 seconds available! After that, the arrow will disappear, and you won't be able to activate it again! and disappeared, as if nothing had happened.
An arrow, huh? Noah thought about it. If he used it, it would help him a lot, but... He ran to the center, to be in the middle of all those people. That took him 5 minutes. He had five more minutes.
He pressed the button. An arrow appeared beneath him, pointing northeast. Quickly, he ran. The arrow pointed east. It was close. He sensed it.
The arrow eventually disappeared. He kept searching. He couldn't find anyone. He started to panic. He looked at the clock. Less than three minutes.
—A triquetra, with roses and a snake! —he shouted —Is there anyone who has that?!
No one answered him. He kept running, while shouting. They still weren't responding to him. Normal, seeing how people were starting to get desperate.
2 minutes. He kept searching, with fear. He tried to calm down. He kept shouting the same thing, moving around.
"Last 60 seconds!" exclaimed the rabbit, excited. People began to panic and started to scream and run.
30 seconds. A boy with black hair spotted his partner, far away. Noah had already given up. He was standing, looking at what seemed to be a sky. He was sweating from exhaustion. He smiled. His time had come. He wondered if Ava and Cain were already with their partners. He hoped so.
20 seconds. The boy was running slowly, tired and sweaty too. They pushed him, and his round glasses fell off, shattering into pieces. He didn't care. He got back up and kept running.
It was almost over. 9. Noah whispered a goodbye, and stretched his arms to the sides, awaiting his death. 8. The boy, already tired, could see the boy's hair. He was light blonde. Like his sister's, he thought.
7... 6... 5... 4... The boy was already there. 3... He stretched his arms... 2... Noah noticed someone behind him. He turned around. 1... Noah noticed how the boy lunged at him, grabbing his hand.
"Pair formed! Floor 1 cleared!" It sounded in the System.
"TIME!" It rang shortly after. The lights turned red, and the clock disappeared. "Wow!" How exciting it has been! they heard a voice, no longer as adorable as the rabbit's. This time it was a distorted voice. "In total, 5300 players have been eliminated. Oh, no! Bye byee."
The necks of the eliminated people began to be cut, turning the room into a bloodbath of screams. The boy, Noah's partner, hugged him, scared, trembling too much. Noah immediately noticed that the boy was smaller than him. Immediately, he hugged him, covering his head so he wouldn't see what was happening.
—Calm down... Everything will be fine... —he said to him. When the massacre was over, the lights returned to how they were before. The people could see the bodies of thousands of people around them. All with their throats cut.
The boy separated from him. He soaked his shirt with tears, but he didn't care at all. He was a boy with black hair of average height, and very intense sky-blue eyes. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt with jeans. It had the number 1788 on the label.
—How... How old are you? —Noah asked, seeing that the boy was even smaller than he appeared.
—This year I turn 13... —he replied, with great effort. —My name is Clover... —The child's eyes were fixed on a body next to him. He was terrified. That could have been him if he had arrived a second late. Noah hugged him again, shielding his gaze from those corpses.
—Listen to me, Clover... My name is Noah, and I am 15. We don't have that much difference. Calm down. Breathe deeply. Think that those people were... Toys! Yes, toys! Nothing has happened to them. They have returned to their homes, with their family, and now they are happily having dinner. Understood?
—Y-yes... —he stopped hugging him and looked him in the face. He had red eyes from the tears. —Okay.
—Okay. Now I want you to take a deep breath. 10 times. I need you to calm down. You shouldn't be upset right now. — The boy did as he was told, and in the meantime, he looked around. Apart from the bodies, he was more focused on the living people.
—Noah? Hey, Noah! —he heard behind him. That voice...
—Cain? —he was accompanied by a red-haired boy. —Are you alive...?
—No, I'm the Joker, and you're Batman. Now let's kill each other. —he joked. Noha let out a small giggle.
—I shouldn't have worried about you... But, have you seen...?!
—Ava? No, I haven't seen her... But she's alive.
—How do you know?
—Because we heard her scream, very noticeable, her and probably her partner... They seemed very scared...
—Thank heaven... —he let out a big sigh, now more relaxed
—Although we couldn't locate them. We located your and... him. —he said, looking at Clover—Isn't he a bit small? What's wrong with him?
—He is only 12 years old... He is very scared. I'm trying to calm him down. —Clover, still holding Noah, turned his head to see Cain and Aike. Aike approached him.
—Hey, little tough guy! —he ruffled his hair a bit —Don't be afraid! In situations like this, you have to stay calm, keep that in mind! What's your name?
—Clover...
—Wow, nice name! You know? They say it's feminine, but I think it sounds great with big guys like you.
—Really? At my school, they make fun of me for that... They call me little girl... —Clover moved a little away from Noah to talk to Aike.
—Haha, well, those are some fools! Look at you! You're a real man! —he gave him light taps on the shoulder, trying not to hurt him too much. Aike approached Noah. —My name is Aike. You are Noah, Cain has spoken very highly of you.
—See? I don't speak ill of you... —he said to Noah, giving him an elbow. Of the thousands of people there, Cain was clearly the only one having a good time —By the way, haven't you noticed the kid's tag?
Everyone looked at him. It was 1788. Before, Noah hadn't realized, but he was one of the 3, including himself and another girl, who had the intelligence of two.
—It can't be... Is the child as intelligent as the one with a 197 IQ? —asked Cain, bewildered.
—Intelligence is not just about how smart you are. It also depends on your way of thinking and seeing the world, apart from how you treat others. In that last part, you would get a 0, don't doubt it.
—And also, that child might be smarter than the other kids his age, and that's why they gave him that number. — A girl spoke behind him. Noah turned around. She was a girl with pink hair. He recognized her. It was the girl he had seen earlier with the yellow circle. So...
—Ava...? — Ava was behind him, much happier than before, especially now that she had seen her friends safe. —Ava!
He ran towards her and hugged her, and she hugged him too.
—Noah! You're alive! I'm alive! We are alive! —She saw Cain and invited him for a hug, but he rejected it. Meanwhile, a girl with blonde hair was snooping around nearby.
She found a black coat on the body of a dead woman that could fit her well. Besides, it didn't have as much blood as the others. She needed to cover up the prison uniform already.
She looked to her side. Nearby, there was a small group of people a little younger than her, who were talking and chatting happily, while introducing themselves to those who didn't know each other. But among them, the smallest stood out, whom she didn't recognized quite well.
Clover saw how a girl was taking off a jacket from a dead person. While the rest were introducing themselves, he decided to go talk to her, as she also sounded very familiar to him.
Ruby saw how the boy was approaching her. She didn't want to talk to him. She needed to meet with Azrail again, since the two of them decided to cooperate. But...
—Ruby...? —said the boy. Surprised, she stood there frozen. That voice...
—...Brother? —she replied. They both stood still, looking at each other.
—Ruby, I... —Clover wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. It had been years since he last saw her. Several drops of sweat were falling down his face. Worry? Nervousness? Fear?
—Shut up. — Clover already feared this. — Leave me alone and go with your little friends.
—But, even so...! —Ruby grabbed the coat, already with everything she wanted. She was about to leave, but her brother grabbed her arm, clinging to her so she wouldn't go. But Ruby easily broke free from his grip, as the anger coursing through her veins made it easy. She didn't say a word, just looked at him with a cold gaze, like ice, and left.
Clover stood there, looking at the body of the lady whose coat had just been stolen. Noah, who had been watching the situation from a distance, approached him. The rest were discussing how they got there, so he could leave without missing anything important.
—Who was it? —he asked, curious, while stroking his head. Clover stopped looking at the body to look at him. His eyes were no longer red from crying, but they were quite dark.
—It was... Nobody important. A person I knew some time ago. —he murmured, but Noah could hear it perfectly. —By the way... Can I ask something?
—Of course! Spill it! —he said, with a little smile.
—How does this not affect anyone? You seem... Happy. Especially Enma and Cain. — Clover had already memorized the names. Noah kept smiling, but this time it was weaker.
—Of course it affects us. Look around you: there are dead people everywhere. There are people crying, vomiting, and more... We are all scared. And I include myself, and probably Cain too. But we must not lose our calm, as we must remain positive. Otherwise, fear will paralyze you, and you won't be able to do anything. That's what it means to be human, right? Be strong.
—So... what are we to them? —he said, looking up, where Kílin, the rabbit, was still floating in space. He was probably also referring to the entity that appeared before the rabbit.
—I... —he couldn't continue because the System appeared in front of him, just like the thousands of people who were there now.
[Reward for passing Floor 1: New identity.] Identity... What did it mean? Suddenly, another message appeared in the reflection.
[Identity: Shadow Mage. Current rank: K] Another message appeared in the reflection, below the previous one. [Mana: 100]
—Noah... What is an "Enhancer Sorcerer"? —asked Clover. Noah looked at him for a moment and then looked back at his System.
—I don't know... Maybe... —he couldn't think of anything. He didn't know about these things. However, he remembered that Cain liked this kind of thing. Especially a game called "Dungeons and Dragons." Noah and Clover, holding hands, returned to the others.
—There you are, 197! —Cain shouted as soon as he saw him —What class did you get?!
—Class? This is an identity.
—That's clearly a lie. Most of the identities they've given you are very similar to Dungeons and Dragons.
—You? —he emphasized
—Yes... And I don't have one from the game, unfortunately... I have an identity of "Assassin Thief." No idea what it does.
—I've got "Spiritual Cleric"! —said Ava —Cain and Enma told me it's strong, but...
—The clerics in DnD can revive the dead —said Enma. —But of course, I don't think they're going to let us do that here. At least, not now. I am a "Paladin of Flora," by the way.
—And I an "Oak Warrior." —said Aike, positioning himself next to Enma —I played DnD only once, but I know more or less what it's about. But, even so, I don't think they will be the same as in the game. They won't make it that easy for us.
—True —Ava opined. —If they had set the DnD classes as they are, it would be easier to win, considering it's a popular game at the time. So, I bet... that the next game will be outdoors. Not in an enclosed space like this.
—... —Noah stared at her. When had she become smart, being her? — Who are you and what have you done with my Ava?
—Huh? Haven't I always been like this? —she asked. Cain and Noah looked at each other, confused. The rest didn't know what was happening. Until Clover came up with something.
—What if they had given her more intelligence? They gave me more mana; it was written in the message below.
—Now that you mention it, I feel stronger than before... —said Aike, looking at his arms.
—Look at your System —Cain suggested, looking at his own. —You have to press the left side of your head slightly, a little above where your ear is located. Don't ask me how I know. They have also added another point to my strength.
—And I got a one in intelligence... —said Enma —Aike and Ava were right. This has different rules than DnD.
"Players!" Kílin began to say, with an adorable voice back "You are going to start the second game! Your rest time is over. If you want, you can form groups, but it is not mandatory. For that, it is enough to stay together at a distance of less than one meter.
—Already...? —said Ava —I don't want to... —she didn't finish because Noah covered her mouth
—Shut up! Don't you remember? The others complained and died... —he whispered in her ear
"You don't want what, player 9998?" asked Kílin, all ears. Noah uncovered her mouth.
—I don't want... Stay here any longer! Take us to the next floor already! —she said, nervously. Kílin smiled very sweetly.
"What a big enthusiasm you have there! Alright, player 9998! I will fulfill your wishes!" He snapped his fingers (yes, apparently he has fingers) and everyone's vision started to fade. It was like last time, but not as strong. In the end, they all fell, with their eyes closed, asleep once more.