“Thanks for holding my stuff, Sugar. I couldn’t really trust those at the dorm not to sabotage it. I’ve even had a few girls try to steal my badge to make me a slave and to take over my businesses.”

Sugar stood outside of her building mansion with a wry smile, “People picking on you? Should have told me, Alex. Wouldn't have been a big deal.”

Alex took the backpack and shook her head, “No, you have to get stronger to keep your position. I can handle the pressure, trust me, it’ll make me strong enough to stand by your side. Thank you again, and remember, be careful about holding your position. People are scheming against us.”

Sugar just laughed and pulled Alex in for a hug, then whispered in her ear as she put her other hand through Alex’s hair.

“Don’t worry, most of them are pushovers, and if I have a difficult battle, the thing you made should help me out. You should worry more about yourself, every time I see you, you’re beaten to shit.”

“It’s all from training to become stronger. Now I have to go, Sugar. I have to be at the explanation place for the examination in a half hour.” Alex replied while patting Sugar's back.

“I… I got it. Just be safe, ok?”

“I’ll try my best, and if you see Loka, tell her to suck a dick.”

Sugar chuckled and begrudgingly let Alex go, “Ha! I’ll be sure to relay your message. See ya, Alex, give them hell.”

“See ya, Sugar, I’ll be sure to do so.”

And so, the two parted ways, mentally preparing themselves for what’s to come.

It would have been heartwarming, if Loka didn’t scream nearby from a cafe, “GAY, JUST FUCK ALREADY, YOU DYKES. ALEX NEEDS HER CHERRY POPPED!”

The two shot a glare at Loka, then proceeded to flick her off.

She responded in kind with a smile.

“SLUT!”

“BITCH!”

“GOODLUCK!”

“YOU TOO, VIRGIN!”

And so, the three parted ways, mentally preparing themselves for what’s to come.

***

This is the auditorium, huh? Damn... is it huge.

Standing in front of the large building, covered in bandages, Alex took in the scene as others entered. She stood, alone, feeling the nostalgic air that came from when she entered her old school. But so much had changed since then, she wondered how her parents were, did anyone in school remember her? Time seemed to slow down for her like on that fateful day when she met the girls who dragged her into this. Despite initially hating those two bastards for dragging her in; The insane girls who betted over girls exploding; And getting her shit kicked in for the past month…

Deep down, she started hating it less, for now she could once again see the color of the world.

I can’t change the past, and after all…

Didn’t I want this?

Didn’t I want this?

Her and Xel thought at the same time, and time seemed to move again.

She didn’t pay attention to Xel butting in, and didn’t feel like stressing over it so, pushing herself forward, she entered the building.

***

She found her seat next to Fei and amid her allies. Fei and she had already talked about all there was to say. Instead, they quietly had a staring match against the faction Mally led against them. While the other factions were just as quiet, so as to not draw the ire of the two groups.

The staring match didn’t last long between them, before the headmaster walked through the front doors wearing her military attire. Instantly, all eyes were on her, as she made her way to the platform.

Unfazed by the stares, she waved and smiled at the silent crowd, as she walked up the platform and took the mook. Instantly, monitors came to life, “My, my... isn’t this a treat. Our only mini gang war for this examination. As a good-natured headmaster, I will not stop this, and encourage you, students. After all, it’s rare to get this kind of opportunity with such a low chance of death.”

Although her mouth and eyes were smiling, her pupils were cold as ice.

“Since you're all raring to go, then I won’t bore you with speech, I’ll just get into the meat of the subject. It’s simple really, you will all be dropped in a closed-off jungle and play a game that gets you as close to death as possible."

“Seven days to survive, try your best to ‘end’ other students and gather tags. An end is someone who willingly blows their safe whistle, unable to fight, or doesn’t have a dog tag for twenty-four hours."

“Rules as follows: at the end of the competition, you must have your original tag. If you lose your tag, you will gain three negative points, meaning you will need two tags to pass.

“Each tag is worth seven points and, in theory, you can all pass with just your tag. But if you wish to rank up, then you require seventy points. And since the four dorms of D-Rank are duking it out, 2017 tags will be up for grabs.

“Now, if you only have seventy points, you must challenge a C-rank for the right of rank. But if you can get 140 points, you do not have to fight a C-rank for a seat. You will also get a special reward if you reach the top ten ranking. As for those who fail… they will be fighting the E-Ranks for their position. And if the number of people is reduced to one hundred, then the examination will end early.

“Now, for gear, at most, you can prepare a backpack worth of stuff. But deadly chemicals, high explosives, ammo, maiming traps and a few other items on the list will not be permitted. You are allowed one gun or a shield if you so wish."

“For those who choose a gun, remember you will only be provided ammo from drops, which were created to make someone ‘end’, not dead. So as long as one bullet hits a major area such as the chest or head, you’re out. Arms and legs will be considered removed by the nature of the bullet and shackled. So, for the rest of the examination, you won’t be able to use it until the end of the examination."

“Also, about these drops; They will also contain food, water, special tech, maps to point sticks, and point sticks of different amounts. There are also one hundred secret point sticks, scattered around the jungle for you to find. The highest being one hundred points for a lucky someone to find.”

“Now, before you register your items to take, please slide in your blade here and hand over your student badge there. Without both, you will not be able to enter the examination. The badge will be taken and your blade changed for the upcoming examination.

“This will end my explanation, and if you have any questions, ask the teachers, and they might tell you... for a fee. That’ll be all, and you have the end of the day for registration. And no fighting to go first, or I'll have you strung up to a pole naked and whipped by some automotions.”

And so, under the threat of whipping and naked humiliation, the factions obeyed the headmaster and lined up orderly, to enter their stuff. It took a bit, but eventually, it was her turn. Like she saw others do, Alex went up and placed her bag on the counter. The robot at the desk scanned her bag and okayed its contents after a minute of deliberation.

With an inward sigh of relief, Alex then placed her machete blade in the hole and locked her badge into its slot. As the badge was sucked away, changes were happening to the blade, as a tick tick tick could be heard, before a ding was heard as the light went green.

Pulling the blade out, Alex looked at the ghostly appearance of the blade in fascination for a moment, before she heard a cough behind. Chuckling, she handed the blade over to the robot who took it. Empty-handed now, Alex walked out of the building to the awaiting Fei and leaders of their temporary alliance.

Seeing this, Alex looked them over for a bit and shrugged, “You guys wanna talk? Didn’t we already have a meeting over this?”

“Things have changed poorly.” One of the girls belonging to the Black Card Gang gravely replied.

“They always do, fine, let’s find a secluded place and you guys can get me up to speed.”

***

Now late at night, Alex lay in her bed exhausted.

Of course, those fuckers would bribe another two factions under their banner. Adding another two hundred to their numbers. Fuck. This is going to be a pain in the ass. Just when I had a good plan to deal with them, they pulled this last-second stunt.

Now, our already brittle alliance has more pressure on it. If we don’t get the momentum going in the beginning, we’ll be scattered to the wind.

Oh, don’t worry about it virgin. It’s just adding more corpses to the pile. No big deal, as long as you have the great me, and you let me have control over your body. Then it’ll be a piece of cake.

Stop learning bad habits from Loka, and you just dissed yourself since you share the same body with me.Are you retarded?

THE GREAT ME IS NOT STUPID, STUPID! HOW DARE YO— Wait, do you smell that? It smells like roses.

Stopping herself from raging, Xel suddenly turned the topic.

Alex only momentarily thought it weird that she had never asked Xel if they shared the same senses, before her eyes suddenly got heavy. Then a thought occurred to her.

Fuck. It’s sleeping gas.

Before she could struggle and cover her face with her blanket, metal cuffs suddenly shot out of her bed locking her in place.

Shouts and screams were heard all around her, as she tried to hold her breath. Only to hear the voices dying out one by one before silence. She tried to struggle out, only to reach her limit of holding her oxygen and breathed in a lungful of sleep gas.

She went out like a light.

***

Chirp, chirp chirp.

Alex groggily awoke to find herself in an iron cage, planted in a tree. If this was the old her, she’d have freaked out and probably pissed herself. But with all the shit she had been through, Alex could only sigh and bitterly think.

As expected of fucking magical girls. They never do anything normal.

After the thought passed, she began looking and feeling around her surroundings. She noticed pretty quickly that, as far as looking through the holes around allowed, she was alone. Next, she felt the strap of a knife, her machete, on her belt, while on her back and shoulder, she could feel her SKS Rifle and backpack.

Having gotten her bearings, Alex tried to open the door in front of her, only to feel it tightly locked.

She gave up pretty quickly when she noticed how fortified the locks were.

Soon, she was rewarded by the booming voice that shuddered through the forest.

It was from that crazy headmaster of this fucked up school.

“Hello and good morning, students! I welcome you to where you’ll be spending the next week of hell. Ya see, I left some little bitty details in yesterday's announcement. One thing is about gassing you all and placing you in cages.”

No shit.

“But the one more important matter before I release you to hunt one another is that… The teachers will also take turns to hunt you on the fourth day onward, and those in the top ten with the most tags will be marked every hour by a beam of light for ten seconds. That is all, and I wish you luck in your hunting. Your cute headmaster will be watching your struggles, so good luck!”

With that, the locks popped off one by one, and the cage door exploded outwards.

What a way to start a day. Alex sighed, as she jumped out of the cage.