Mary’s POV

The man stood in front Jensen, Mary, and the Enhancer.

“Let my teammate go. What do you propose?”

Jensen loosened the grip on the Enhancer’s throat, but did not let go.

“Where are your manners? The natural thing is to introduce yourselves.”

After a moment of thought, the man spoke.

“My name’s Flash. That’s my teammate, Dom.”

“Flash… Why did you-” The man began to cough up blood from his damaged throat.

“Dom!”

“How heartwarming. My name’s Jensen. You two seem to be close, considering you just got paired together a few moments ago. Well, that’s not important right now. Mary.”

“Huh?”

Mary was still in shock at the events that played out in front of her. While she didn’t understand if Jensen’s saving her was out of kindness or some plot, she was still glad she didn’t die.

“If you freeze up like that again, you’ll die. I don’t care either way- but if you’re going to die such a pathetic death, go do it where I won’t be bothered by it.” Jensen, despite seeing Mary as an inferior being, believed that she was above average due to her Light attribute. ‘Seeing someone not live up to their potential is pretty mundane.’

“Right…” Still wrapped in her thoughts, she realized how close she was to dying. ‘Pathetic… is right. I have to do better if I’m going to live through this thing. Still, Enhancers are strong. I can’t afford to underestimate the opponents in this game. I’ll stick to my original plan: lay low, wait for the numbers to thin down to the finalists, and gather information on those remaining. Then, I’ll pick them off through the use of different strategies and surprise. The most important part of this plan is the element of surprise and overwhelming them with superior strategy, while they are separated from their teammate.’

“Anyway. My proposal is simple. Go and gather all of the remaining participants that you can find, and come back to this spot tomorrow morning in order to defeat me.”

“Eh?” Mary blurted.

Jensen’s POV

Jensen believed that he had no choice in this matter. ‘I had originally wanted to take them on individually and enjoy the contest, but I stopped that enhancer without much effort. I won’t be able to test my abilities if I defeat them individually. Besides…’ Jensen reflected on the time he was in a life or death situation at the store. ‘If I can feel a more dangerous situation than that, what complaints could I have? I bet it’ll be entertaining for the viewers as well.’

“Fine.”

Flash took the released and injured Dom and ran off. He had no idea why he was being allowed to live, but he understood his only hope of defeating such a monster would be teaming up with the survivors that he finds.

Broadcast HQ

If any of the participants were to look toward the sky, they would see nothing but red sky and the clouds drifting with the wind. However, among the clouds was a cloaked ship. Reflecting the sky off of it, it was completely unnoticeable despite its large size.

“The galaxy gambling reports came in. would you like me to read them, sir?”

“Go ahead.” A large, muscular lifeform with antennae that came out of his forehead grunted toward his smaller subordinate.

“Just as we expected, the odds favor Jensen Livelot’s team. Due to his Awakening, his odds have increased to roughly a 75% chance of winning.”

“Hm…” The man sat in thought. With no unpredicted events, the boy named Jensen Livelot would come out on top. This is, of course, assuming that the other contestants do not join hands to defeat him. It had happened several times in the past games, and it was always unpopular among the audience. ‘They love the challenge to the favorite, but in the end, when the favored person is killed, it leaves a sour taste in the viewer’s mouths. It is impossible to completely satisfy them. If the favorite tears through enemies individually, the game is considered too predictable. If the favorite dies from a group effort, the game had an undeserving winner.’ The man sat in thought for a few more moments before making a decision.

“Even if we were to intervene to give other individuals a larger chance of winning, the audience would be even more upset than if he won in a boring way. We will keep observing and hope that something happens.”

Flash’s POV

‘Damnit, Dom. Hurry up and heal. You’re heavy.’ Flash ran through the high grass to put some distance between them and Jensen. After running for hours, he noticed that the sun was setting. Suddenly, a voice thundered through the area.

“All contestants, congratulations on surviving until now! Please look toward the sky for the players that have fallen throughout the day.”

Flash and the nearly unconscious Dom looked toward the sky. A virtual screen had a countdown from 10, and once it reached zero it began listing the fallen.

“A total of 24 players have died. The list of fallen is below, with a profile on the player’s ability and killer.”

Flash glanced over the list and saw that there were many different killers, and no singular person was dominating the game. ‘So, he isn’t making a move yet? These players that are left will probably believe that he is someone that needs to be teamed up against once they see the condition that Dom is in. After all, despite the rumor about him not having a Cosmic Power, he was ranked first overall.’ Flash decided that resting during the night would be pointless, and in order to have a chance at winning the games, he would need to find more players throughout the night and attack Jensen in a group. With his mind made up, he set off into the night with Dom wrapped around his shoulders.

-10 Hours Later-

Ort’s POV

A man, with another person on his back, parted the high grass and exited the field. Several men followed behind, with the end of the line not in sight.

“After we kill this Jensen kid, I’m going to tear into your teammate like a wild dog does to raw meat.”

The man that was second in line was a large, brutish man with a nasty smile and wicked teeth. His name was Ort. Ranked 2nd overall in the pregame rankings, he believed himself to be on par with Jensen. ‘Even if he’s skilled, so am I. I could probably take him out on my own, much less with the help of the fifty people here.’

“Tell him, Ort. We’re going to eat everyone here alive.”

“Haha, you’re pretty worked up, huh Plato?”

Plato was an extremely tall and muscular man. Ranked fifth overall despite his incredible stature, probably due to his lack of intelligence, this was the man that was Ort’s teammate.

“Don’t underestimate him. Even with the people here, he will still be dangerous.”

“Quit being such a coward.”

‘What the hell? We have every player that’s still alive other than our target and his teammate, and this kid’s still acting like it’ll be dangerous? What a coward.’ Ort believed that this was as simple as taking candy from a baby. Still, he felt that he couldn’t take it easy whenever he saw the state that Dom was in. ‘What kind of ability can do that? His torso’s completely bruised as if he got tied up, and his leg looks like it was pierced by a sword.’ Ort wasn’t particularly cautious, but he had keen senses. Thus, when a voice sounded from about a hundred feet in front of the group, he was the first to locate the speaker.

“Finally, you’ve come. Looks like you’re not completely incompetent, Flash.”

“So this is Jensen?”

Ort began to size up his competition. Glancing at the abundant markings on his face, he came to the conclusion that he was dangerous. ‘He definitely seems strong, but with everyone here, even a God wouldn’t stand a chance.’ Ort realized the strength in numbers. In his life, he was a member of the mafia. He knew that, no matter how strong a single man was, it didn’t matter in the face of overwhelming numbers. Thinking about the correct way of approaching Jensen and putting him down with no danger to himself, Plato’s voice ran through the air as he broke from the group and walked towards Jensen.

“Ort, this guy doesn’t look so tough, right? I mean, I’m bigger, you know? How can-”

His voice was cut off. Or, more precisely, his entire head was. The severed head was thrown back into Jensen’s hand by the time the group realized what had transpired. In complete awe, with a fleeting confusion, the mass of people could only stare at the demon in front of them.

“Come then. Prove the worth of your pathetic lives by taking mine.”

With these words, the largest massacre in the history of The Galactic Survival Games began.