"F/UCKING BRYNNS!"

Grayson chuckled. "Curse all you want, fag, but if you want your cute friend here not to be sliced by my brother's token nor my dad's card, you must give us the correct keys."

"No way!" Ellis said.

"Okay, fine. Dad?" Grayson said, and Branson brought out one card.

"Stop! Stop!" I shouted. "Don't hurt my friend!"

"Then give us the keys!" Branson reiterated.

I shrugged. "Ellis… Give them the keys."

Ellis scoffed. "Give us the rat."

"Okay. No attacks. Just plain transaction," Branson said. "Son."

Grayson moved forward near Ellis and Ellis brought out the two keys. They both put their palms up. Ellis's face demonstrated disappointment, and Grayson's face seemed cocky.

"Are you controlling his movements?" Ellis said.

"It won't be petrified the moment it landed your palm," Grayson reassured.

And in three, two, one… Both landed safely on their palms.

But… the moment Oakley landed on Ellis's palm, he jumped up and turned into a really ferocious lion attacking Branson!

I, on the other hand, got ready with my palm and took out a sword. Ellis grabbed some nice things from his pocket and threw them to Grayson.

Oakley, in lion form, roared and took the goldenrod box from Branson.

Anderson attacked me using his casino chip, but my sword was powered with Aillard and Vigdis' strength, so it cannot cut my weapon.

Grayson counterattacked Ellis's bombs with his slot machine coins.

So, right now… We have the box and they have the keys. It's like the last hour was wasted down to this couple of minutes.

"Warning. Five minutes left," said the announcer in the building.

After that, we all attacked each other. Oakley turned back into his human mode and ran away from Branson. Ellis and I dealt with the Brynn sons.

"You tricky shit," Grayson hissed.

"I'm not Trick. He is," Ellis pointed at me.

"Brother, let's take the box from the black guy," Anderson uttered.

The two of them ran towards Oakley, but I shot fireballs on their way, creating a ring of fire that trapped them. Ellis even threw bombs to heighten the fire. Now our only task is to take the keys from the two of them.

"Four minutes left," said the announcer.

"Give us the keys now or you'll become roast meat in seconds!" Ellis shouted.

"Never!" Grayson strongly disagreed.

"Okay, sure, I've watched enough Hell's Kitchen to tell a meat's temperature. I'm aiming for medium-rare," Ellis joked.

I controlled the fire to move inward, making the ring smaller and smaller.

"Three minutes left," delivered by the announcer.

"Sons!" Branson shouted. "Don't kill my sons!"

I felt how genuine Branson's words were, but this is a competition. I need to stay focused on my goal, so I cleared my throat. "Give us the keys first."

"Sons! Give them the keys!" Branson shouted once more, as I slowly made the ring of fire narrower.

Suddenly, two goldenrod keys flew towards us. Ellis caught them and I changed the fire into ice, covering the two brothers. I even froze Branson's feet, so he can't follow us.

"Two minutes left," as announced once more.

"Hey, bitches!" said a familiar face nearby.

"Rakisha!" I called her, as she and the other Kembabazis were approaching the exit.

"Do you have the treasures?" she asked.

"Yeah, we have the keys, and Oakley…" Ellis said, as we followed a pigeon holding the goldenrod box. As it approached us, it turned into a black guy we all knew.

Oakley gave the goldenrod box to Ellis. Finally, our treasures are complete.

"Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…" The announcer did a countdown of the seconds left. That really served as our wake-up call. Thankfully, we got what we needed.

"Good! We have ours too. Let's go!" Rakisha said, the he looked at Oakley. "Hey, boo! Nice to see you again!"

All of us ran towards the exit until…

"Oakley!"

Rakisha wasn't able to hold hands with Oakley as his body fell to the ground, struck with several weapons at the back, pierced through the front. The weapons have these striped red, black, and white patterns, which was odd, because earlier, they didn't have that style.

All of us stopped walking and turned around. It was Branson Brynn, together with the gold face cards, that attacked Oakley. On the ground were the cards with slot machine coins and casino tokens on top of them, courtesy of Anderson and Grayson who were behind Branson.

"Aaaaaah!" Rakisha screamed at the top of her lungs. It was a terrible scene to see our dear friend, her boyfriend, die before us.

"You're next, bitch," Branson said and instructed the gold face cards to attack Rakisha.

"I'll die another day, but the three of you will… Now…" Rakisha brought out a shard of mirror from her pocket and the entire place turned into an Oblivion-like state.

Right before our very eyes, the Brynns' souls detached from their bodies, and Oakley's too. They all directed to the mirror. Afterwards, the color returned.

"Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…" as the countdown continued.

Rakisha nodded at Makena and Makena breathed fire to the lifeless bodies of the Brynns. Then Rakisha's tears flowed from her eyes and looked up to Chikelu. Chikelu nodded to Rakisha and he removed the weapons that struck Oakley and carried his lifeless body out of the building as we show the treasures to the Sovietsky guards. They verified that we got the correct ones.

"Five, four, three, two, one… Self-destruction, activated," delivered loudly everywhere by the announcer.

In front of us were the buildings being demolished by themselves. I thought at first that this was AI, but it didn't look like it. Dead or alive, whoever was left, would be buried in there. I believe that ends Level 2 of The Krieg.

Ellis and I consoled Rakisha as she mourned her loss. It was really unexpected to have the Brynns attack us. Somehow, I felt guilty about Oakley's death. I should've made a higher ice barrier to not let Branson attack us. The emotions got me because of Branson's concern for his sons.

Rakisha was still crying, sitting on the ground, and holding Oakley's hand. It was really a painful scene to witness. Until…

"Participants…" It was Jang-mi who spoke this time via loudspeakers that were situated everywhere. All of us listened to her announcements.

"To those who made it, congratulations. We now have a total of 24 teams left to compete for the championship. As you all know, the champions of The Krieg will have a special pass to be a member of the board of World Council of Sorcerers or WOCOSO. You now have the power to transform the magical landscape of the world a few weeks from now. So, be strong and I do hope that you all succeed in your own endeavors. However, only one team will win."

All of us looked at each other as if sooner or later, we're gonna have to kill each other.

"A special announcement will be given to all of you in the next fifteen minutes. Please stay tuned. Thank you."

"Special announcement, huh? Will we be shoved inside the dome and whoever gets out will win?" Ellis said.

"Let's just wait," I whispered.

"That's just enough time… Makena," Rakisha stood up and Makena breathed fire from his mouth. He burned Oakley's body.

"Rakisha, why do we need to do this?" I asked her.

Rakisha responded seriously. "His body needs to be burned, just like the Vegas assholes, so I can use their powers. I absorbed their souls earlier, yes? If their bodies were still present, I won't be able to wield their powers."

"I see," I simply replied. Perhaps, this is just right. A life for a life. Power for power.

We witnessed the crackling of the fire and said our prayers internally. I hope Oakley's powers will be really helpful to Rakisha and may his soul rest in peace. Per the Brynns, I wish Rakisha would do something to torture their souls and make them rot in hell.

After Oakley's body decayed, Rakisha gathered all the ashes and transferred it in a small urn she created with her witchcraft. The urn then did disappear right after.

Seconds later, Jang-mi's voice aired once more.

"Thank you for waiting for my return. I'm about to announce the special instructions from the authorities. Due to the intensity of the events, the authorities are giving you three more days to relax and prepare for the next level of competition. Regarding the treasures, please keep them safe as they will be essential to determine your fate in the days to come. Right now, the Sovietsky guards will assist you to the hotel building on the other side of the dome. Your rooms are as follows…"

Jang-mi then announced the room assignments. Good thing, our friends, and even Fei's team, we're all on the same floor. We can go to each other right away.

It's just sad that only Ellis and I are going to share that room.

After Jang-mi told the room assignments, she continued with the announcement. "Then, at exactly 1800 hours, please approach the garden near the hotel as the authorities prepared a formal ball and banquet for all of you, to celebrate your success and to discuss further how the competition goes. Should there be any questions, please approach the Sovietsky guards so we can attend to your concerns. Thank you very much and congratulations."

Ellis and I held each other's hand tightly and made each other feel that we need to really stick together. We bade goodbye to Rakisha for now, as we needed to find the Manhattan team. Fortunately, they were on the other side, waiting for us. Of course, Fei welcomed us with an empowering smile.

Somehow, after seeing him, I felt okay, just for a while.