hearing the storm outside rina knew exactly what was going on. she had this nightmare already a few times in the past after something horrible had happened. she knew why she was still awake and what would happen if she walked down the hallway.

the storm had frightened her so she couldn't sleep and she stood up to go to her mama and papa. walking down the hallway exactly 3 thunderbolts struck like always but they no longer frightened her after hearing them this often.

if not for them she may had noticed that the door to the house was standing open that day, if not for the heavy rain loudly coming through the door she may had heard her parent's earlier.

when she reached the door to her parent's room the door too was standing open inside being not 2 but 3 people both of her parents and 1 intruder wielding a knife. the intruder was ringing with her papa while her mama was frightened crawled down in the corner of the room.

the intruder definitely said something but be it the thunderstorm or simply her having forgotten it all she could hear was something indecipherable. if rina where like other kids she would of had cried or something like that but she instead walked to the kitchen pulling out the drawer with the knifes her parents always scolded her to not touch pulling out a long knife.

with knife in hand she walked back now seeing her papa lying on the ground blood coming from his neck and the intruder attacking her mama.

if not for the thunderstorm the intruder may had noticed her coming in seeing her holding the knife and attacked her first but instead he was attacking her mama who tried to defend herself as much as she could. when rina reached the intruder only one thing was in her mind ‚I HAVE TO KILL HIM' and with that she pulled up the knife not knowing what to do saw her father and stabbed the intruder, who was bowing down barely deep enough for rina to reach, into the neck then pulled out the knife and stabbed him again over and over and over until he fell down to the ground.

her mama seeing her looked terrified at her but that may just be how she looked before she died from the intruders attacks being frozen in time, she didn't knew nor could she now ever know. still for rina this was her personal punishment and if she where normal she would have cried she would of felt sad but her mind was completely blank. from that day onward she decided that people dying is sad and that she never wants to see someone die again.

for the entire night she was just sitting there next to her mama holding the knife tight in her hands until the next morning the neighbors came in. they probably noticed the open door and they probably also first yelled something to look if someone was there but rina didn't know or hear anything, all she knew was that they took her away from her parents calling the police. it was that day when she lost her parents and that day when lüziels family took her as their own.

if not for all of this happening they kids at school wouldn't have called her bloody marry.

if not for them lüziel would't have attacked them every time they did it.

if not for her being covered in blood from attacking the intruder lüziel could off found more friends, different friends than someone like her.

as rina woke up she was in lüziels arms, around her being a few others all looking up. up was the horned person floating looking as if it was waiting on something.

„i know this was a stressful day for you but please just spare me a bit of time to clean up the part. after that you all can rest for a while, we do not want more gladiators to die after all after you not fulfilling my wish to leave 100 alive."

the crowd now was compared to the start only a handful of people all looking like being in the verge of collapse.

„at least it seems like we had a gildan goos who has an exceptional amount of achievements earned under you. that should lever the loss of 44 gladiators if the goos also lays golden eggs that is. normally those gladiators who hunt for achievements die in the process but not this time it seems so impress me even more in the future golden goos."

„what are you talking about goos and achievements what is that nonsense supposed to mean? we survived your horror game so now let us go"

a man screamed at Yhvlton with a lot following his lead

„oh no no no. you seemed to have misunderstood this was just the first part of act 2, there are still two following."

„if you really wan't us killed why not do it right now!"

the crowd was growing restless showing their clear distasted towards the situation

„what would be the point in that but if you don't stop to listen to me then i have no choice but to get a bit uncomfortable"

everybody suddenly grabbed their ears hearing an extremely loud noise. with that the crowd started to quiet down

„now that you finally listen to me we can start with the rewards of this part of the act. you all will gain your clear reward and additional rewards depending on the achievements you earned."

yhvlton snapped with his small fingers and before everybody appeared a purple window. lüzield look at his to see

Mission The First day cleared

Achievements: 2/5

first blood cleared cahbes hunter not cleared kecsnehc hunter not cleared gladiator hunter cleared perfect act not cleared

Reward: 30 tallon 100 tallon 0 tallon 0 tallon 300 tallon 0 tallon

Bank: 113 tallon + 440 tallon

„Now that this is out of the way lets proceed to the next part of act 2..."

yhvlton was interrupted from someone in the crowd

„and were just supposed to go on like this. just a bit more and i'm going to drop dead on the ground"

„don't worry this part will have 2 instances the first being for preparation and rest. we wouldn't wan't our gladiators to just fight until they die of exhaustion, we're not barbarians after all. now as i was saying we proceed now to the next part of act 2 with the remaining 56 gladiator left of our initially 2580 and as i already said this will be conclude in 2 instances. the first will be a gathering while the second will be capture the flag. you will be given 1 day to gather a group of 5 and anyone not being part of a group of 5 after the day will be executed. for this task you will be given access to the transport features limited to this state. after the team building process i will explain the capture the flag game. as before you can check this information in your missions tab."

as if stung by a bee most people gathered suddenly started moving trying to find a team with a few taking a slower approach and others pulling up an orange window. rina who was already awake the entire time now started moving which lead lüziel to let her down.

„you have finally awakened but it seems like your dream wasn't as peaceful as you looked"

„they are all dead right, but don't worry i can handle it. i know the only reason why you tried so hard protecting them was for my sake and i know that there was nothing that could be done."

„whenever you're like this it means that you had that dream so best we stop talking here and focus on the task ahead."

he pulled up the mission screen trying to explain rina what to do but she was already off

New Mission Gathering of Companions

Gathering of Companions

Objective: Build a team of 5 gladiators

Penalty: Death

Description: To prepare for the upcoming capture the flag even you are tasked to find 4 other gladiators to build a team within the next day

Time: 24:00:00

„we don't have anyone we know so we just have to look around. rina where... aaarrrg"

„that guy, i want that guy in our team."

she was pointing at someone with cat ears on his head standing somewhat secluded from the rest.

„can't you see he clearly isn't normal wearing that and not even having a single scratch after all of this."

but rina didn't listen and walked straight at him following her the defeated lüziel

„welp i guess no one would be normal who can survive this. Oi you be part of our team."

the cat eared one turned happily around

„Mies finally someone who wan't to build a team with miau."

„nope not gonna happen leave that guy alone rina. someone who seriously miaunzes while talking is a no go"

„miooo don't leaf miau alone, you are the first who wanted to talk to miau"

lüziel was looking at him then at rinas gaze and said

„then give her your cat ears and stop talking stupid or we're gone."

„hoe rude of miu to just waning to take miau ears"

„well nothing we can do then let's go"

lüziel turned around grabbing rina to drag her away being himself grabbed by the person

„no please don't go here you can have them just don't let me sit here to wait for my death"

he gave rina the ears who happily accepted them and put them on

„wasn't that hard, was it? also if i hear another miaunzen of you today thats it. i don't want to deal with that shit when we have to attract other strangers"

„i get i get it you killjoy"

„yes I AM A KILLJOY if it's about survival"

lüziel was already looking for more people who where solo getting his eyes drawn to a girl wield a broken sword, the same sword he owned that they left behind after it broke

„where did you get that from?"

„who are you supposed to be some mister righteous policing others belonging"

the girl stood up aggressively talking back to him

„i couldn't care less what you do or own but thats mine"

„so you are the one who dropped darkest night. how could you leaf it behind"

„great a chunibyo, why not let's just take all the freaks. do you at least know how to use a knife or are you just swinging that thing wildly around"

„of cause i do. you think i'm just some kid playing around"

„would make sense for the people to survive round 1 to know a thing or 2. you don't seem to have a team so let's just join mine and only 1 would miss at that point."

he was pointing at the two in the bag ground, rina now on all 4 playing cat being cheered on by the dude who gave them the cat ears

„you think i would just join a group of idiots"

she was looking at them with a weirded out glance

„be honest you really think you find others with that attitude. you only have 1 day you know, ah whatever let's find someone else i just want to be done wit this and don't have the nerves to deal with a punk chunibyo."

when returning to the others he heard from behind him a voice

„Elise, my name is elise. i'll join your stupid group"

„that makes 4 it really is just that easy if you choose the right words"

above lüziel a giant shadow suddenly appeared prompting him to turn around seeing a monster of a man at least 2 meters tall build like truck but probably would beat a truck in a one on one fist fight.

„and you two flyweights are supposed to protect these ladies."

„i don't know what your problem is but i can take care of myself. i'm only joining them because i have to"

elise was knocking with her finger on the giant who didn't seem impressed by that

„force, so they are taking you hostage."

„there is no hostage and everyone is in this on their own volition. if you have something to say say it straight out or leave if you just want to cause problems."

„i just can't just stand there and watch how a weak group like this gets crushed in there trying times."

„so you want to join us, applications are over there we're still open"

he was pointing at rina who was rolling around on the ground. the colossus went over there and shortly after returned

„she miaunzed at me can she not speak"

„of cause cats can't speak duh, but looks like our party is complete. we have obtained insane weeb, chunibyo and i'll protect you wall, we have lost all our dignity"

with that hehe took of towards yhvlton

„we're done what now. can we collect our stuff we left behind"

„you don't seem to be afraid of me gildan goose"

„what i'm supposed to be afraid of dying or what. i don't think anything will scare me in the near future, but what about our stuff. we can't leave here will that wall is there

„i like you i think i will double up on my bet 10000 on him"

an orange window appeared in front of yhvlton where he clicked through a few thing looking very annoyed.

„so your question was the things you left behind. i am afraid that you can't get them anymore. in this part of the act you have to fight with only your bodies and what you can get rom the shop. normally you shouldn't have anything when you get here but it seems i overlooked something."

he was looking at the sword elise was holding then snapping and with a green light it vanished followed by scream of her in confusion and anger.

„it seems like everything has been cleared here. i wish you the best of luck human, you will need it to make me win my bet"

and with another green light yhvlton vanished wish left lüziel no other option but to return to his team

„...someone stole i'm telling you there is no other way."

elise was complaining towards the giant who tried to calm her down being interrupted in her tantrum by lüziel

„for something you only owned for less than a day you speak awfully fond of it, anyways where not supposed to have stuff thats why it was taken from you."

„how could you know, the only way you could is if you stole it."

„it's not that i was the one but that i saw the one. i spoke with yhvlton and for now all we can do is now to wait as we already are a team of 5"

„if thats the situation than how about we introduce ourselves now. we can't be a real team without even knowing the names of the others"

the cat boy was trying to hype up the group while lüziel took the cat ears from rina who was sad about her loss and then he answered

„but forget all the normal you're used to. i don't care or need to know where you lived or what you work. what we really need to know is what we all can do"

„you really are mister no fun, always ready to ruin the mood not waning to know anything about us but what we can do in a fight. but i don't care. i am Marthurwainian van Noctis a new but flourishing mangaka. i am 25 years old and 1,70 in height. my hobbies are reading, drawing and animals. i hope we all get along like one big family"

„i'm not here to remember a stupid name like that so you are marth"

elise did not look impressed by marth's presentation quite the opposite to rina and the giant who both clapped for it

„i like your enthusiasm. we defiantly need more people like you in this world. i am bob hemilton an apothecary for 20 years of the age of 42, 2,08 tall and weigh and weigh 103 kg. my hobbies are gardening and body building. pleasure to meet you all"

„great now we completely ignore useful information"

„you look like someone who would crush flowers with the slightest touch and you are supposed to do any gardening."

elise clicked with her tong looking like she didn't believe a word bob said

„instead of making fun about other peoples hobbies you could introduce yourself"

marth was trying to scold her but despite the size difference of those two he didn't look very confidence while doing it

„whatever. i'm elise and i have a purple belt in jujutsu so i can care for myself."

she was looking at bob before continuing

„i don't really care about this friendship stuff. all i want is to be done wis this stupid game"

„well not the best introduction i have seen in my life but for now it suffices, next up would be..."

„me! i'm rina hestion. i'm 18 and i'm 1,67 and weigh around 60 kg"

rina was excitedly jumping around while introducing herself

„i like animals and funny people and going on trips ..."

„that's enough, they get it. i'm lüziel schefron, 20 and probably around 1,70 to 1,75. it's not much but i have some idea of kendo. i at least hope that we can work together properly."

„now that tat's done what's next?"

marth was putting his head in his hands rubbing his temple trying to come up with something

„we wait. we have an entire day time. it took as at most an hour to complete the mission and we have still 23 more to go. i myself will search somewhere quiet and sleep for as much as i can."

„i'm also done for the day so deal with it yourself what you do next"

lüzel went away searching for a corner with no people with elise following directly behind him

„i too think we should first on the agenda have a rest before we decide what to do next. a healthy mind only exists in healthy bodies. we also should stick together to not need to search us later on."

„you do have a point. now that i don't have to fear failing this mission i do feel tired"

with that bob, marth and rina decided to also follow lüziel. they looked around for a bit and found a shadowy sett of benches not enough to fit them all but they decided that it would be a bad idea ffor all of them to sleep at once anyways so rina and bob who weren't that tired at the moment and gave up on sleep for now. under normal circumstances they probably wouldn't been able to sleep in brought daylight with just a few trees giving them shadow and noisy people everywhere but thank to their fatigue they immediately fell asleep for a total of 9 hours. during that time as they had nothing better to do bob and rina exchanged about what they went through. when the 3 woke of the two of them seemed to have becoming really close but bored after thy had to just wait it out for the rest of the 9 hours the no longer had to say anything relevant.

„everything just hurts. who knew that sleeping could be such a bad idea"

„get over it you wimp, it's just a muscle soreness"

elise was trying to talk down on marth but didn't look any better as all of them wore down their bodes to the breaking point and beyond just to survive.

„and you? now it's your time to sleep you eve get the night time for most of it."

„i can't deny the obvious, i too need a refreshing rest."

„but i'm not tired!"

„and you will be in 14 hours if you don't sleep right when the next part starts"

rina unwillingly laid down and with some serious starring of lüziel actually attempted to sleep.

„you two are quite close aren't you. it's not that you're siblings the names don't match so are you perhaps lovers"

„just lifetime friends, leave your imagination out of it. it's weird to think of someone i know for my entire life to be that."

„but over time you will grow closer and closer until it sparkles between you two"

„and over time my fist will grow closer and closer to your face if you don't stop"

lüziel was clenching his fists looking irritated and annoyed by marth but elise just whisked with her hand

„ignore that dork. i know these type of people, they won't stop if you ask and won't if you try to force them to stop. more importantly i remember that you know kendo. that is so awesome. i never was able to do anything productive with a sword that's why i did jujutsu in the end. can you show it to, how do you do it right?"

„first of all i don't have anything i could use as sword to show anything, second i did say that i only know some basics"

„just use the shop. they have some pretty cheap and bad swords that are't useful outside a showoff"

„the shop right it was mentioned that we can use the thing from there but i never actually looked at it"

„HOW DID GET THIS FAR WITHOUT USING SOMETHING THAT BASIC?"

„we just didn't need it. we did packed everything needed when the very first message came and we had better things to do than play around"

„arrrg, common let me show you, just open you're shop i will guide you through it to make this faster"

„do they now just ignore me, i though we where a team we need to do things together."

„shut up dork"

as lüziel opened his shop elise starred shocked at him as if he where some alien she just spotted

„how did you get that much tallons. 553 that's crazy, i had like a total of around 150 and i had to do so much work to get that one achievement. if you would killed everything that moved the entire night you would have less."

„well the 2 achievements are most of that."

„whatever you did you are definitely rich with that amount. we can even get that one cool sword for 500.."

„i'm going to stop you right there. no matter how much or little this is i do not intend to just randomly spend it without a plan. the last thing i need is to be stuck with money problems in this type of scenario"

lüziel was shaking his head towards elise who had sparkling eyes thinking about what she could get.

„i'm telling you you're rich. i worked my ass of and only got 150 and you have 4 times as much. most people are probably stuck with 40. there is no way we would randomly need large amounts of money"

„so my 243 are more than the average. i was afraid that i would lack behind right of the start"

marth was popping his head through the two also looking at the screen in front of lüziel

„HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT MUCH!"

„i didn't hunt those dam bugs for nothing after all and luckily first blood really just means top 10 blood so that i could gather 2 achievements"

„you can't tell me that YOU of all people where able to kill anything. where did you steal that from.!who will come after you trying to get it back!"

elise was shaking marth in disbelieve of what she just heard trying to find the truth behind it

„that's what you get for judging people only from the outside. lüziel over here immediately recognized my power and recruited me as his first team mate. he may be a bit stiff but he knows how to judge people"

marth was placing his hand proudly on lüziels shoulder. as elise looked at lüziel he was shaking his head and anybody would off sufficed expression. she was giving back an i knew it expression and then turned back to marth

„if you're really that great you surely can show us some of your tricks"

looking like she already won she did not expect when marth didn't back down

„sure, let's fight right over there to not annoy these two trying to sleep"

„wait what? you actually accepted"

„of cause, it's vital that we can trust in the abilities of others. he will be the judge of this, you should be ok with that right?"

„whatever even an amateur will see how inferior you are to me"

„it's nice that you decide something like that just without me but this should be interesting. let's make it 3 points for the winner. if someone says they give up or cannot move for 10 seconds the other person gets a point"

lüziel was searching for confirmation from the both of them and they just nodded and walked to the other side of the street

„let's say you start with 3 trees in between you to make it fair for both"

after they set to position and lüziel gave the start signal it took all of 1 minute for elise to completely overwhelm marth

„not so tough after all this wasn't even a challenge"

„this was only 1 of 3 rounds so don't get to high on it that you've beaten me"

„just chump talk."

with that they wen't back to their starting positions. this time marth used his terrain dancing around the trees to not give elise a good way to grip him.

„now that you lost once all you do is run away. look at that great warrior over here."

but marth didn't fell for her taunt and kept running around until elise finally caught up on him and brought him to the ground

„we haven't decide what punishment the looser should take. how about the losses is the winners dog until the beginning of the event. your into that shit so it would be perfect for you"

„you will regret this but i accept your deal."

„ha regret, i only have to win once so even if you where to get lucky twice it's not going to happen 3 times in a row"

they again wen't back to their starting point and for the first time marth was now in the offensive. surprised by that elise took a few steps backwards trying to regain he initiative but marth did not let loose throwing her over and pressing her to the ground.

„so you do have some guts. i didn't expect that but now i'm ready so that trick won't work twice"

„well let's see if that's true"

for the fourth time they walked to their starting position and with the starting signal of lüziel they now just stood there without moving.

„at least you know to not do the exact same thing twice in a row."

now both walked more cautiously towards each other. elise tried some quick moves that didn't accomplish to anything as marth just dodged them. marth also did some attempts but way less until he finally got a hold of elise and with one fast motion elise was laying on the ground for the second time now. the score was now evened out with 2-2. as they went into position for the third time did elise not say anything to mock marth but did look distressed. the fifth round at first looked similar to the fourth until suddenly marth started to charge elise who had no other choice but to back of. marth of cause did not just let her get away now aggressively targeting her feet. she tried her best to get out of that situation bu no matter what she did it was like marth already knew it beforehand. the moment elise tripped it was all over, she was now for the third time on the ground with marth pressing er down.

„and with that we have the winner and as i did hear you two agreed to a punishment for the looser."

„yes i do remember agreeing to a punishment but what was is now i totally forget"

„i-t-t-t was totaly that the loser had to pay 500 tallons"

elise was trying to finagle her way out of it but neither marth nor lüziel let her get away from this without the proper punishment

„no i'm pretty sure it was something else. i remember something like the looser being a dog"

while marth was looking mischievous at her all lüziel could do was lay his hand on her shoulder

„just man up. you lost fair and square and you are the one who wanted a punishment so now sand to it"

„but at least tell me how the first two round where so easy and i can agree that the third was absolutely on me but how did you suddenly get that good"

it's not suddenly it's planed. the first two round where just throw way for me i didn't expect to win them to begin with. i instead used them to look what you can do and more importantly what you didn't do. in the third round you lost to your superiority complex, the fourth you didn't know what to expect and became slow and in the fifth you at least weren't so stupid to do the same thing twice but the threat of a punishment worse than death (humiliation) was just to distracting. in he end you lost because you didn't took me serious"

„but how could you so perfectly predict my moves, you would need to be a genius to do that"

„i did say that the first two rounds where prep rounds and i am also often called a tactical genius you're not wrong with that part. and now give paw."

marth stretched his hand out awaiting the appropriate response from elise

„what?"

„you're my dog now so give paw"

elise first thought about it then unwillingly ‚gave paw'

„who is a good girl, and now your reward."

marth pulled out the shop buying something and with a green light in has hand a dog collar appeared

„what the hell no never i will not put that on"

elise was now hiding behind lüziel who barely could take it anymore

„i think you should do it. it was your overconfidence that brought you here and that will bring you right back to earth."

lüziel barely could bring out these words before starting to burst out laughing out the idea whats going to happen for the rest of the da. it would be a glorious once in a lifetime experience seeing a tough girl get command by the most flamboyant femboy there is.

„be a good girl and put on the collar and i maybe give you even some treats"

„i will literally kill you when this day is over"

„oh no we don't say such thing to our master, if you continuous like that i may have to punish you"

elise ripped the collar out of marth hand and put it on. the collar started to glow for a bit and afterwards it had the words ‚i am elise and my master is marthurwainian'

„well that's convenient now you will never get lost"

„SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP"

lüziel was wiping his tears away looking at the newly branded collar

„why the hell would they sell something like that"

„it was listed as animal collar with adaptable size, so it probably is meant for when you get a pet along the way"

„well i don't care thats the best thing i have seen all week. i guess build a party has it advantages"

despite eilise's openly expressed dismay and the taunts of lüziel and marth she somehow looked a tiny bit happy just small enough that you could easily overlook it. the group took a while to get used to this new ‚situation' until it became dark and they decided to at least rest somewhat for the night to not be sleepy during the later halve of the next mission despite them already having slept. with dawn rise the entire group now was fully rested but still didn't know how to act as actual group so the remaining 3 hours where spent with talking about the strength and weaknesses everybody had.

„so we finally get to the part i wanted to do first as it is the most important part."

„don't pretend like you didn't have fun with our new doggy"

marth was staring lüzial directly into the eyes without blinking directly in front of him while he said that in face of which lüziel just couldn't lie

„even if it was fun we still NEED to do this"

„can someone explain to me why elise is wearing a collar?"

both bob and rina who didn't knew about what happed yesterday evening where inspecting elise's new found fashion trend. elise herself who got so used to the collar first was confused until she remembered and tried to block their view with her hands

„don't look at me it's those two i didn't want to do this"

„pay no mind to that. she lost a bet and that's the punishment. let's start with the task at hand. to make it short and simple we have no idea what the standards are now so being above average means nothing anymore but i am definitely fast that much can i say and thanks to me knowing some sort of fighting technique i am also not you're average person in a fight."

lüziel was waving his hand signing a no and gathered now the attention towards their real purpose for sitting down as a team

„you said you know kendo right? that was something with a sword if i think of the right thing, can you even use that without one"

bob was making some empty swings with his hands pretending to hold a sword to show what he meant

„it's not like the basics are only about swinging a sword. a lot is about having a solid stand judging speed and distance and other basics that are needed generally. and if it really comes to it could always use this, the menus are basically instant so saving it up until needed is not that bad of a plan"

lüziel pulled up the shop and pointed at the swords in there

„well it's at least better than nothing but i too think it's hard to judge at the moment what the average is. we know that everybody who reached this point had to survive that day but there re several ways to do it and you don't need to be good at fighting which is way more important than running away in general use"

marth was looking at the swords lüziel pointed at trying to evaluate how much an average sword should cost

„all we have to do is just suck it up and fight through, it's not like we get another option. we all saw what happened to that one guy at the beginning, we don't even know how it happened so we could protect against it if we tried. i myself are good at close combat. unarmed opponents are no problem for me and we don't have weapons anyways at the start so this is perfect for me"

„i'm still not certain what i am supposed to think of such a small girl going into a fight. you could break so easily"

bob was looking 3 heads below him at elise with a concerned look in his face

„if you' want it that badly how about i show you how much i can do. just try blocking me you wont be able to"

elise was aggressively replying standing up and challenging bob. he to stood up and they both stood now 5 feet apart with the other 3 watching them. bob was doing a grappling pose and thanks to his massive statue throw the small elise around if he chose to. when he involuntarily started to turn around and fly towards the ground his expression was correspondingly baffled

„martial arts don't rely on strength or mass that much, it helps yes, but isn't the focus. so even despite your weight class difference it's not hard for someone skilled to beat someone unskilled."

marth was giving bob a lecture while he stood up to finally convince him that elise can defend herself

„i see and feel that now. all i can do is hit hard and outmuscle most people. so if you need raw strength i'm there but don't expect me to do this fancy stuff"

„with that cleared that leaves two left you and rina"

lüziel was waving them back over to their sitting spot

„for me it's quite easy. i do know to some very basic degree how to do martial arts but most importantly i am exceedingly good at analyzing people. as some already know"

marth was looking over to elise who was simply looking away pretending not to have heard that. afterwards marth turned to rina

„so the last one would be you"

„i'm not that good at this stuff al i did was follow lüziel. he always protects me"

„you shouldn't talk down that much on yourself. you are one of the most agile persons i have ever seen and i too fir the first time in my life saw you exhausted yesterday after an entire 24 hours of non stop heavy work and running around. i therms of endurance i don't think any one could beat you"

lüziel tried to praise rina but got interrupted by marth

„endurance and agility are nice and all but in the end don't accomplished much if not used properly. t least knowing that we have someone who will always be ready no matter what is helpful"

lüziel who took that interrupt to reorganize his thoughts then decided to add to what he was previously saying

„i really shouldn't hide this anymore as it will bite me in the ass later. something very important for rina is that she doesn't see death. she just can't handle it and being directly confronted with it will break her. i am the only one who can get her out of it so you need to get her to me if that happens"

„that is quite inconvenient considering..."

„I CAN HANDLE IT! i know that i couldn't before but now i can"

„what because you decided that! we both know what happens and i can't risk you because of something as stupid as that, you are way to important to me. i- i- i just can't imagine living without you so PLEASE I BEG YOU don't be reckless because of a whim of yours. there is a time and place for everything and i'm sure you can get over this but don't push yourself to hard"

everyone was taken a step back by lüziels words with bob trying to say something but didn't in the end and marth first waning to say something but then reconsidered knowing that he shouldn't make a joke right now though a bit en answered

„no one of us knows what this is about but you shouldn't be this overprotective. to get here you can't just simply leech of someone and you probably already have seen that. there where a lot of groups at the beginning of people who flocked around someone strong but for the most of it they didn't survive not even the person they flocked to because you can't protect others who can't fight themself in extreme situations for long times. what it really comes down to is that not the strong survive but the strong who know when to leave other to die no matter how heartless that sounds. there where over 2000 people at the start and now its down to 50 so you two being here proves that both of you are strong"

both lüziel and rina where looking defeated on the ground knowing that everything marth said was true even if they wish it weren't the truth

„how about you just shake hands and promise that you will respect the others abilities but also don't try to do things alone. then you can say whats on your mind to let the unease go away"

bob stepped in as the intermediator for the two getting them to again look up gave a handshake and then started talking. for bob marth and even elise it was obvious that they needed a bit time right now so they left them alone

„i know that you always disregarded your own wishes for me. i am not stupid but i chose to ignore it because i felt that that was your way of getting over what happened but at some point it just became the norm and i stopped noticing how much you give up for me. i just can't stop thinking that i am the reason why you r life is worse than it should be"

rina was twirling with her hair carefully choosing what she said to find the words to properly deliver her feelings

„no i couldn't.. you.. i always chose this for myself. you where always my one friend. most people just couldn't get along with me well and left me in the end but despite you being the total opposite of me you never had any complains, you always stood at my side"

„but you never tried to get friends, the reason why the left was because you where so focused on me. if not for me you would have found more people who want to be your friend. simply because of that day you had no choice but to...

„that's not true you..."

lüziel was interrupting her but he himself to got interrupted by rina who was now talking more loudly to overtone him

„NO I'M TALKING NOW. every time you do that. you just never listen to me properly. always are you going on about trying to protect me but never ask if i really wan't that. i know that i'm weaker than you and that i'm dumber than you but it is long over that i am a small child. i too grew stronger but you just didn't acknowledge that still seeing me as this small helpless child that saw his parents die and then got bullied in school afterwards. at that time i needed someone like you to survive but that is no more. i know that i still lack in things but unless you let me finally free i will never be able to stand on my own."

lüziel wasn't even trying to answer that because he had nothing to say to it. deep within he knew that she was right but he still couldn't let go of that need to protect her it's what he always did. it took elise who came over seeing them stand there to break the silence

„you pretend like it's a bad thing wanting to protect someone but not everybody has the luxury that someone cares about them this much. you just have to stop being so annoying and start listening to the other"

„that's easily said but it's hard to break once shell. i'm sure they are able to do it as they just don't give me the vibe of someone who will be stuck in their own ideology not being able to accept others but it will take time."

„i'm still so annoyed at it. do you know how far many people would go to find someone who cares that much about them that they would risk their own lives. i sure as hell ain't knowing someone caring that much about me."

„i would never leave my doggy out to die, you just have to say the word and i will come."

„yoouuuuu!!!!"

elise now completely forgot what situation they where in after that comment of marth and was moving towards him fists up in the air being disrupted by lüziel

„i think both of us where childish. how can we get talked down that much by strangers who don't even know us for a day when we know us for our entire life. it is time for me to start seeing you as who you really are rina but that doesn't mean i'm ok with you just running amok. at least give me some time and we will reach the point we should of reached loooong ago"

it took an always avoided talk and a bit of chaos among their first friends to finally get here but for the first time in their life rina and lüziel truly felt like they the could now completely understand the other leaving them nothing left but to laugh at their old selfs and that it took them 18 years and a world apocalypse to get to this point. they would of continued laughing if not for a huge shadow behind them appearing and with one fellow swoop all 4 where brought literally together with giant hug from bob.

„isn't it great to talk out your problems and then look back at your old foolish self who didn't do it for no reason"

„leave me go you giant. no one said i want to get hugged by some stranger"

„common elise isn't it great to get together like this right before our great adventure"

marth who was able to get a hand free out of bob hug petting the helpless elise who was in between the other not being able to move at all. they continued a bit on with their playing but then returned back to the strategy meeting until yhvlton appeared again.

„and with that the time ends and it seems like not all have finished their quest. you know what that means it's punishment time. it is so sad that we already where less than my wanted number and now have to cut even more but i don't make the rules"

it took a scream to let the crowd realize what just happened as 4 people standing next to each other suddenly had their heads pop of. you didn't have to be a genius to figure out that those where a team of 4 that never got the fifth member

„now that this is taken care of it's time for the main attraction of the second part of act 2 the catch the flag game. the first part had a lot of luck in it but for this it is mostly about how good the team you could find is but even more importantly how good you work as team. team work makes the dream work as they say. this will be decide in 3 rounds in a tournament setting until the strongest face of in the final round to give us our first truly entertaining spectacle. but do not fright for those who have lost they will get ONE extra chance facing of against others who dropped out. now this sounds quite easy right so this will have of cause a fitting spice to make it more exiting. each of you will gain 3 flags representing your brain and heart, your arms and legs, and your torso. if you loose a flag you will also loose the appropriate part within 10 minutes so be careful or this could end faster than you would think. but take this one tip from me these flags are not bound to you as long as you have collected a flag it counts as yours so all you need to do if you loose one is to capture it back. quite forgiving right perfect for some newcomers. the length of this act is entire decided by you a round ends when you are able to get the appropriate amount of flag total within your team with the first round needing 19 flags the second needing 24 and the third needing 30. we already have set up the bracket so we will start right now and as this event is supposed to test your own abilities there will be no questions answered. find the answer to your questions with your own wit and therefor you will also have no access to the chat this time. by the way if anyone of you tries to be funny and refuses to play then I WILL PERSONALLY COME OVER TO YOU GIVING YOU SOMETHING WORSE THAN DEATH so please try your best."

this time without even yhvlton saying anything the mission window popped up listing as usual the content he just explained followed by some disturbance under the people after hearing that last line. but no one dared to act against yhvltons words seeing the dead corpses of the people who simply couldn't find a team

New Mission Capture the Flag

Capture the Flag

Objective: win 3 rounds of the tournament by capturing flags

Alternative Objective: do not lose in the losers round

Lose Condition: attempting to not play the game

Penalty: Death

Reward: 100 tallon per round

Achievements: 0/3 cleared

Description: You take part in the capture the flag tournament. gather respectively 19, 24 and 30 to advance to the next round and win the tournament. Be wary of loosing your flags as they represent your heart and brain, your arms and legs and your torso and loosing one will make that part malfunction within 10 minutes.

„capture the flag eh, guess this will be an easy one. they won't even now what hit em before i get their flags"

„in your case that was probably meant literally but you should take this so easy you lost after all to some dork"

„that doesn't count i just didn't take you seriously and if it where after these rules than you would have lost anyways."

„exactly that attitude gave the loss against me."

while marth and elise where arguing lüziel approached marth and whispered into his ear

„so should we tell her or just wait until she figures it out herself"

lüziel was obviously referring to the collar that elise was still wearing having completely forgotten that she now has endured her punishment and could take it of

„nah will be funnier this way. let's see how long we can go with it"

marth was whispering back to the displeasure of elise

„what the hell are you whispering there, i know it's about me so tell me"

„oh nothing just ignore us."

it was just enough for this little skirmish until they disappeared in a green light. when they could see again they where in a forest on a clearing with nothing but vegetation around them.

„so this are the flags"

lüziel was holding 3 flags in hand 1 with a heart and brain on it another with arms and legs and a third with a body

„we need to think of a way to securely bind them to us so that we don't lose them or get them stolen"

„but we don't have anything anymore after that mean goat took out bags"

rina was angrily stomping on the ground

„for now all we can do is to hold tightly onto them. this probably why we weren't allowed to take anything with us"

uring this discussion bobs attention was pulled away by his botanic heart seeing some flowers at the edge of the forest

„i didn't knew we had something like this around, it would have been a blessing to just look around in such an untouched pice of nature"

he was excitedly looking around at the different types of flowers that he never saw before in his life.

„by the way isn't it weirdly hot. we still have spring so it should be cool inside of a forest this thick."

marth was looking up out of sheer coincidence seeing that the sun that he should know how it looked way larger than it should be.

„i don't think this is even on the same planet as we came from, not recognizing a tree or a flower is one thing but the SUN. we only have one of that and that up there definitely isn't it."

„when this really is a totally new world that would mean i am the first to discover these flowers, i have to collect some. this will be a huge revolution."

bob was carefully picking out some flowers that looked the most strange just to realize that he didn't have anything to hold them in.

„i don't know what your going on about some stupid flowers or the sun. as long as it's green it's a plant and as long as it's yellow it's the sun"

„it's not that easy elise. if we don't even know what plant's these are how are we supposed to know what we can even touch."

„you shouldn't be this afraid. i don't think that as long as we are not trying to eat something or touch random plants this will be ok. the objective in the end is that we play capture the flag so i doubt they would put us in a scenario where just moving around is already deadly."

„look over there in the distance i can see something"

rina was pointing into the forest with the rest trying to look for something but couldn't see what she meant

„you sure about this?"

„i don't lie! i definitely see something"

„we would need to search the area anyways so why not check it out"

they all took their flags and made sure to grabbed them tightly to not lose them then marth was starting to walk where she pointed quickly overtaken b rina who took the lead. behind followed first lüziel then bob and in the end elise. it took not long for the rest to see what rina meant as before them a temple rose up.

„how the hell did you see that from back there are you a fricking bird?"

„i just saw it ok. it's not my fault that you eyes are so bad."

„let me guess this is the center of the area we get."

„how did you know, i couldn't see anything from this giant window in front of me"

before marth and lüziel who wher enow standing in front after rina dropped back to reply to elise where popping up green windows. as the rest came closer they to had green windows popping up i front of them

nameless forgotten temple

this temple was build a long time ago and now is abandoned. its door are tightly sealed making entry impossible without strong force. what treasures may lie within? it also marks the middle of the forest as a landmark for travelers.

„when this is the center than it's not hard to believe that we started near the edge, meaning despite the looks of this that the area we are given is quite small"

„doesn't that mean that the other team could be very close"

bob joined the discussion of marth and lüziel right in time for the entree of the other team.

„an aztecs temple in this place what is going on?"

they heard different voices from the other side loudly talking with another prompting both marth and lüziel to shush rina and elise who where broken out into an argument about rinas inhuman sight

„the others are here! right now we have the initiative so be quiet"

„great that will save some tmmmmhh"

„i said shush"

marth was holding his hand over elises mouth stopping her from making her grant entrance pulling her back into the bushes

„so you wan't to jump them. i don't like hurting others so i will only hold them down"

bob was quite perceptive of marth intend going ready to rush out to overwhelm the other team before thy had a chance to react before they got caught in his raw strength

„i think i have a better plan. for all we know this is a forest that means we can abuse the difficult terrain. rina it's your time time ti shine"

„got it!"

marth was jumping in front of rina stopping them before they could start

„wait what are you trying here? weren't you the one who wanted team work"

„didn't i tell you rina is unmatched in endurance and extremely agile. if i trust in one thing then that no one will be able to catch her in this jungle if she doesn't want to be caught"

„so you want to lure them?"

„yes and no. of cause luring is one part but tiring is the other. they either follow her as group, only a few follow her or non follow and we lose nothing and we do have a real wild animal in our group right"

lüziel was looking at elise who was happily jumping on board with their plan

„awesome you get me the people and i bash their heads in"

„if that's the case than i should come to. i may not be a fighter but i have a solid grab if i get someone. i can't just let those two go out there alone"

„well with that it's decided. you and me we're just the rearguard. you said where a good tactician so now analyze their moves"

„i get it, i get it."

they went a bit deeper into the forest then circled the temple. on the other side the other group was the other group all 5 starring at the temple while talking about it. they seemed to yet not have noticed them

„we should just run out so let's make some noise to get em to us, you can do that without getting seen right"

„yeah yeah let's go with your stupid plan"

„Let's use some rocks. there are enough around us that are big"

rina and elise started moving out seeking big rocks that they could still throw while bob was making himself read seeking a place near them where he couldn't be seen form the temple side. for lüziel and marth it was just a waiting game now until they started.

„it's surprising how easily they wen't with this man hunt. you would think that people normally would hold back on something like this"

„it's called adapting. we are all just evolving to fit into all of this instead of choosing to break down from the pressure"

„this just leaves the hope that we can still keep being who we are at the end of all of this"

in the corner of his eyes saw lüziel rina waving knowing they now start. they now went into a focused mode precisely watching what the other group will do. the first thrown rock didn't garnet any attention but afterwards a bigger one that was thrown unexpectedly far by the small elise landed near enough them to make them realize that something was happening

„what was that? is someone there?"

„it came from behind us!"

and the third on was smacked hard on the ground by rina making a loud noise of rock hitting rock

„no it's over there, that clearly came from there"

now rina stomped against a tree making the leafs rustle

„that was clearly over there let's check it."

„we have to stick together or else where way to weak alone"

the entire group now decided to go where rina was waiting on them

„perfect, it had been better if they didn't go all at once but this but we still have the advantage now"

elise now too mad herself ready to capture her poor unexpecting victim. rina was now close enough to the group that they would notice her if she started to move so she started running away.

„i saw a shadow moving"

„yes we all heard it, where not deaf"

they slowly followed rina who now got impatient and jumped out right in front of them

„noo didn't i tell you not to be reckless"

„stop right there we have you outnumber. just make this easier for yourself"

„i don't think so you couldn't catch me anyways"

rine skillfully dodge the two that approached her ‚sneakily' from the side that she noticed right from the start anyways and ran away

„don't let her get away while she is alone. this will instantly get us through this"

the one that tried to sneak on rine ran behind her stumbling through the jungle that rina easily traversed

„how is she this darn fast in this jungle, what is she a monkey"

„i'm no monkey i'm rina"

rina came back to make sure they didn't lost her and when they finally arrived at her one was snatched away

„sorry pal but we too wan't o get through this"

„let me go, i can't move it's like i'm fighting a brick wall"

before the other could help his friend did elise appeared in front of him and knocked him out with one strike

„that makes two three more to go"

„just take the darn flags. where not here to fight them all"

marth and lüziel came running pointing at the flags that where stuck in the knocked out guys pants

„but this is way more fun"

„what they ambushed us."

„i told you to stay close together and this is why. all of use just want to get out of this alive so how about we make a deal"

„declined"

lüziel was taking the flags from the one on the ground and a big bang was hearable above them

„common the fun part was just about to start"

in front of everybody an orange message appeared

congratulations

team bob, elise, lüziel, marthurwainian and rina won the first round of capture the flag

reward: 100 tallon

before they could say or do any more all 10 where disappearing in green light exactly how they came. when bob, elise, lüziel, marth and rina could see again they stood exactly where they left on the same street they gathered but this time they held 3 flags each with lüziel holding the 3 extra he took and bob holding one he took from the person he hold captive

„we have still those stupid flags? don't tell me if we need to protect them even here. it really likes torturing us the entire time through"

eilise was waving her flags around in anger and she would have thrown them away if not for them potential being her death sentence

„we just need to hide them and then no one will be able to get them"

rina was trying to stick her flags in her trousers behind her shirt but all that did was giving her a big suspicious bulge on the side

„didn't they say that this last as long as we need. we went straight at it but we cannot continuo unless our next team finishes which could take any amount of time"

„i wonder what happened to the other team. they look quite nice and wished to apologize to them afterwards"

bob was looking around but all he could find was another team of 5 that he did knew

„don't apologize, they los because they where bad. it's their fault for being so weak"

„elise is way to mean to others"

„the answer to that is looser bracket. if they where here wis what would the losers stop from taking their flags back"

„but we don't play right now"

even saying that rina was now holding tight to the bulge on her side as if any time someone could jump out trying to take her flags

„i think lüziel is right with that. we where not allowed to ask questions and nothing in the rules states that we couldn't take flags right now. more importantly wasn't that a bit to easy. we not only got a terrain that heavily favored us and we also got first to the temple thanks to rina inhuman sight and agility..."

„eye don't talk of me like i'm a monster!"

„...but the other team also was way to disorganized and even in a fair 5v5 i doubt they could have won. it's as if everything was set up to make us win"

„you're just making this way to complicated. thats why i hate nerds like you. you always try to find some mean in shit that has non"

„but i would feel bad if someone purposefully put a weaker team against us so that we win. it's already bad enough that we have to fight them"

bob was now even more concerned as when he was looking for the other team

„we simply won because we where to awesome for the others. they could even keep up with me when i was just walking"

„you call that walking? i'm sure you did some backflips and other crazy stuff while ‚walking'"

„don't say stupid stuff. i can't do any special tricks. all i did was normal walking"

„you simply don't get it we are just that good"

elisa gave rina a high five with them doing some sort of war dance

„i have to agree. even if something was set up its not like that's in our control so worrying only gives you wrinkles. all we can do right now is wait"

lüziel patted marth on the back leaving marth no other option but for now to ignore this uneasy feeling he had. over time more groups appeared with the later they appeared looking more disheveled showing why they took so long having to actually fight. weirdly enough it didn't stop as they reach their original number but continued until there where 16 groups standing. with the arrival of the last one yhvlton also appeared above them

„now that the first round has finished you all win gain 4 hours to refresh yourself. this time we had an higher than usual amount of early finishes so most of you already had time to rest and for those who came last see this s your punishment for not trying hard enough. i saw exactly how soft some of you where and i can tell you right now if you don't stop with that attitude then al whats left for you is the end."

before anyone could even say something yhvlton disappeared again leaving them just to accept what he said.

„and the no questions continuo. more than halve the people here weren't here to begin with so whats with that"

„i know that guy, he's the news guy that lives in the next city"

rina was pointing at a familiar face for them as he was a journalist that was now for over 10 years working for the biggest news channel.

„so we are no longer limited to our city, that would explain where the other are coming from"

marth sunk into his own thought while the rest where looking around for other people they could recognize not finding anyone noticeable. for the following 4 hours marth was focused at watching the other teams while rest played simple games like tic tac toe to pass the time. like from an alarm clock they heard a ringing signaling the end of the 4 hours followed again by everyone vanishing in green light. this time when they could see agin they where in a city not looking much different from where they came from except for it not being destroyed.

„it didn't work, we are still here"

„despite the generic city looks this is not where we where before as the building are not damaged"

„from jungle to city. makes you question whats next"

„so why is the other team directly in front of us"

bob was pointing down the street garnering lüziels, rinas and marth attention

„makes it easy for me, just a straight forward walk and then finish them off"

mart was grabbing elise and the collar that she still war pulling her back

„hold up i have seen 2 of them before. that guy with the fedora and the one with the hoodie where, how should i tell this best, monsters. the just went fully at it in the first part like it was the most normal thing in the world."

„wait why the hell am i still wearing this. get off you stupid collar"

while marth was talking threw elise the collar she wore up until now on the ground trampling on it

„you say monster but what do you mean by that?"

„with the tempo they went at it they probably killed over 50 of the bugs and multiple snails, each"

„thats impossible we had to try so hard to get rid of even one of the monster bugs!"

„well not for them apparently"

before they could continuo the other team started moving toward them not fast but steady and cautious of their next action

„and what now, they are coming here"

„just get away at first. i can tell you we will not beat them with raw strength and from the looks of it did they already do something we didn't and use the shop so we're heavily outclassed."

„i would love to say that i can take it but even i am not so dum to say that i could beat people with real weapons bare handed without problems"

they all decided to make a run for it and as marth looked back weirdly enough the other team did not chase them despite their advantage but instead walked a completely different direction

„what whimps sure they don't even trie. sure they are as strong as you pretend"

„maybe they are just not idiots that randomly attack anything that moves"

it took them a while to find a decent as as this city seemed to only consist of streets and houses exclusively with the exception of one green stripes with some benches they could find

„so whats the plan you apparently know them already. if they truly are combat machines we cannot win without singling them out, but that would need their cooperation which i doubt we will geed from them in that case"

„we just have to snatch it from the others."

marth was surprised looking at rina then whispering to lüziel

„with how she acts i expected her to be a bit stupid but thats a surprisingly good idea"

„i can hear you!"

„we go with that if we can't beat them we just snatch the flags away from the others. for that we need to first find out how they are keeping them or we won't be able to do it fast enough"

„that would include finding them first right"

lüziel was looking at their team then continued

„i don't think most of us are made for scouting missions"

„i think it is a bad idea to split up. if they really are dangerous than shouldn't we stick together?"

bob was voicing his concerns with the upcoming idea of sending single people out to search for the other team

„just leave it to us. elise is strong enough to get out of trouble and i'm fast enough to not get caught"

„i wonder if we could use these as bait"

lüziel was looking at the 6 flags he was holding

„we need 24 flags in the end but until neither has reached that amount it doesn't matter how much the other group has"

„isn't that too risky giving them just up"

„ehy are you just ignoring us"

elise was popping in as they had clearly ignored rinas idea

„we should first weigh our options before we act this time"

marth was waving her comment away

„before we search them we need to have a plan anyways what to do next to give them no chance to react. this city is big and looks the same no matter where you go so finding them a second time is as hard as the first time."

„i don't need that i can remember exactly what way i walked. i do that all the time when i am walking through forests"

„it is true that we didn't perticulary took the pre made path serious on our walks so we are good at finding our ways through similar looking places"

they immediately turned around as they heard someone from the distance and saw the one with the fedora

„just make this easy for us ok. give us any 5 flags you want and we can end this without you getting hurt"

„how the hell did he find us this fast"

„doesn't matter he is alone we can just beat em up together and no matter how strong he is with 5 to 1"

„stop it elise you think he would be as dum as just challenging us randomly. no matter how he found us he probably is prepared in some way"

„just throw the flag on the ground and move far away and we can end this peacefully"

he was again calling for them not having moved an inch from where he was

„you think we would be as stupid to just surrender to you without a fight. who says we can't beat you"

elise was screaming back followed by his answer

„if you don't do as i say i won't guarantee the survival of any of you. if you just give up 5 flags all of you can survive"

„you think you can beat us right here just with you alone, i would love to see you try!"

„just don't think that i would give you this offer later"

with that he walked away back into the maze of streets leaving them baffled to what just happened

„so i think we shouldn't stay here if they know where we are"

„that much is obvious but where should we go?"

„to the other side they will never search us there if they went there"

„no rina even if they wont search us they still could randomly bump into us when we're close together"

„in that case we should just go in the middle. it's basically the lottery if they find us there. the presumed edge of the are is in the end quite the simple hiding spot but inside everything is identical so no way they could just find us without searching a lot"

they followed lüziels idea but it took not more than 10 minutes until again someone of the opposite team found them again the one with the fedora

„i have decided to give you a last chance as it would also be troublesome for us to have a full on fight. if you don't leave the flags behind we will kill all of you"

„ha! sounds to me like you are to scared to actually act and just want to intimidate us"

elise was furiously pointing at him

„then thats the end of this discussion if you don't follow our order we have no choice"

he again vanished into the maze of streets but this time rina ran after him but could see anyone anywhere when she reached the crossing he vanished in

„he is gone he teleported away"

„not only that he found us this easy twice but he also just vanishes. something is up here"

„well duh sherlock holms"

„so about that searching them, we should do it. let's split up in 3 groups"

„wait what right now?"

„yes, if they can find us i wonder if they can find all of us or if it's only because we are grouped up"

„i was waiting to do something, finally a good idea"

elise was cracking her knuckles

„i think we three should stay together because non of us are exceeding at running away while you two go on your own. one takes the left, one the right, we the middle and let's find them. they want to hunt us ok lets give em a hunt"

„"and what if they teleport away again?"

„i don't think it's teleporting perse and we will cover a large region anyways. who would expect someone you threatened their lives to just split up"

elise and rina where starting to to make themselves of being stopped from marth

„wait it's way to dangerous, what if something happened when you are alone"

„you know that tie you beat me it was only because of a first to 3. in real combat you only get one chance and you also don't have time for all eternity to search the best option"

„elise is right we also didn't choose a safe option when i and lüziel got attacked by the bugs and it worked out. if lüiel says it's right than i will trust that"

unfazed by marth concern rina and elise took of

„let's go we too have to do our part here"

marth could do nothing but just go with it now that all 4 where acting outside of his influence. within another 10 minutes they again got visited by the man with fedora but this time he looked visibly confused seeing only 3 of the supposed 5 man team

„if he is hear that means those two have to only deal with the other. you think we can hold him down"

lüziel was looking at marth who answered

„if you are ready to get some wounds he still has a weapon after all"

and before the one with fedara could even give them is speech they all charged at him. he took the only option he had in that moment running away himself behind the next corner and when they reached him he was gone again

„so she as really right he can teleport"

bob was closely staring at the empty street searching for anyone else being there

„have you seen his reaction he clearly wasn't ready for this so al of this was an intimidation tactic. no matter how strong you are you still can lose if you are heavily outnumbered"

„but doesn't that mean he can warn his team now"

„that's the best part about this. he clearly didn't knew where elise and rina where so all they can do now is either focus on only us or try to search those two splitting up in the process."

„With that being the options they will probably split up. it would fit most from what i saw them doing"

„in that case help out elise and we go to rina. you work best with information and in this you have info about them being the best parter for her no matter who will go with that group."

„and what about you none of you are good fighters"

„well i do have this, i didn't want to waste my tallons but this doesn't look like a waste"

lüziel was pointing at the shop

„let's see how they react if out of nowhere a sword swings their way.i already tested it once to check and this is faster if you already know what you want than someone could react to it."

„for now i will go with your idea as mine just got ignored but if this fails then i will attempt anything i can to get us through this alive even if that means throwing the match."

„also we will circle to you. i don't expect us to win in a straight forward fight as we do not have fighting experience for that but we can make them not beat us for probably a very long time enough to carry them over to you. try to get the advantage till then"

„and you just leave it up to me to do everything?"

„of cause mister strategist"

bob hesitated a lot but trusted into marths and elises abilities and went with lüziel who was going to the right side to where rina was searching

„an all out brawl but with advantage for us. it's not abad idea but loses to unexpected things"

marth was mumbling a bit to himself and then ran the opposite way in direction elise. for marth it didn't took too long to find where elise exactly was because she was loudly fighting.

„get over here elise!"

„what what are you doing here!"

elise tried to get away from the ones attacking her but the hooded one did let her go the direct where marth was then ordered the other two to go after him.

„so this is how this goes. and you are those guys goons?"

„who are you calling goons! we are al working as a team!"

„well whatever, i'm not one to just fight 2v1. ATTACK HIS LEFT!"

marth screamed the last word to elise before he started running. the two that where send to deal with him without thinking ran behind after him keafing their team mate alone with elise. elise may got the tip from marth but equally the hooded one heard what he screamed leaving them in an awkward stalemate both now thinking about what he said and how the other will respond to that

„what now hoody?"

she already knew that he didn't respond to what she threw at him so without waiting she went for it. for this one it took him a bit longer than usual to react but he still was so superior to elise that she could get him. didn't even meant to really hit this as she was thinking about marth words

„why did he say left. he clearly is better on his left. was that knowing them just a lie. no he is a dork but not a liar and he does know to analyze the fighting stile of me within only 2 rounds so he had a reason to do so"

while elise was holding off the hooded one was marth leading the others away 1 block.

„finally you realized that running is pointless"

„so i was wondering, where are your flags?"

„we don't have them so you can't steal them from us!"

he was proudly proclaiming that as if it was some genius revelation but for marth that only meant one thing and he opened his menu to look at the time. it was 37 minutes since the game begun minus 1 or 2 minutes for the running away he had to only trap them 7 minutes and hope that the others could hold out tat long

„have you forgotten that there is no chat. look how stupid he is thinking he could just lead us away and call for help"

„they really found some great goons but power attracts idiots in flocks. i gues that was a foolish miscalculation from me but can you even beat me to begin with. two idiots are mot that hard to deal with"

„let's see how long you will be saying that after kellam finished your friend and comes to help us. we weren't even needed last round that much better is he than the rest of you"

despite their big talk and being in the majority both didn't attempt to attack marth which was perfect for him as he wasn't sure if he could even hold out for the 7 minutes if they both attacked him. taking another piece of elises book he continued with the taunting

„i heard that weakling try to group together to pretend they are strong and seeng that you don't even attack me shows me that you are indeed just some weakling who learned to talk down on others in groups but in the ed account to nothing on your own."

this time his taunts went a bit to far leading to an attack of of the two with marth trying to stay out of their reach but also not going to far away from elise to rush back to help her after the time was up. on the other side lüziel and bob finally met up with rina who was dragging behind her a tail of 2 people one lacking far behind the other, being the one with the fedora, where fightingly close to catching her. when he saw the two of them he slowed down a bit while rina was making a sharp turn towards them running to lüziel and bob

„i have to say you little strategy was quite something. you got us that much out of concept that we just ran into your trap but can you beat us."

„you are awfully confident, how so"

„this is not the time for grant talk so how about we fight as it has come to this"

he pulled out a kind of bomb that he threw on the ground. from it was now emanating thick fog making it impossible to see through

„have you seen this before"

lüziel was turning around to rina

„no. when i saw them i immediate ran the other way"

„ATTENTION!"

bob barely could react in time pushing lüziel with full force into rina making them both fall over. making an arrow miss lüziel by a hairs length

„ARROWS? where did he pull that out he had nothing in his hand before"

Lüziel could only utter that sentence before the second came along this time hitting lüziel into the leg. it took al his strength to not give an obvious reaction to signal that they hit.

„fuck, we need to run. it's the same trick from before he knows way too god where we are through this fog"

„are you ok"

rina was helping lüziel up who had to be careful not to strain his leg to much

„i'm fine for now, as long as the adrenaline keeps the pain away. we have to make a run, we can't beat this"

„you think i would let you go. i warned you that it was the last chance"

this time not an arrow but the enemy team came out of the fog, this time with a lance and naganita

„how much more weapons do they have?"

lüziel barely could doge a swing of the naganita with his wound. bob reacted quickly grabbing him afterwards, picking him up and running together with rina away

„good call, running even if its only an injury in the arm is still hard"

luziel broke the arrow of leaving only a bit sticking out keeping the tip in so that it could hold his wound closed

„so you know how to do it. i was about to stop you if you attempted to pull it out"

„i guess you an apothecary after all so you would know this. but more importantly change of plans with what they have in their arsenal we should instead try to make this a 2v2 and a 3v3 instead of 2 2v3. who knows how much longer elise and marth can hold out if they are equally as equipped over there"

„but we can't even fight them as 3!"

„who said we fight. i was hopping to hav a conversation to sniff out where they keep their flags as the one behind the fedora guy didn't hold any where i could see them, so he either has them tuck behind his back or doesn't have any to begin with"

„but we die if we don't have any"

„that's where you're wrong rina, we die after 10 minutes so if they just every 7 or so minutes refresh the time they would have no risk from loosing through their weaker team mates"

an arrow flew right next to rina despite them trying to not move straight lines to prevent exactly that

„wah, it nearly hit me"

„we're not getting anywhere this way. shop, it has to be somewhere in this"

thanks to being carried was lüziel able to scroll through the shop and read it easily while running away. he stopped when he reached an item called beginners bow and right below it was arrows. the costed 300 tallon and arrows 20 each

„this is so expensive how can he so easily get all this stuff. he has to be running dry on tallon at some point"

bob was seeing what lüziel was looking at

„can you even shoot a bow"

„no but all it needs to do is to outrange a lance and at that distance i will hit at lest somewhere relevan. when we go around the next corner turn around and set me down. i did this once in my life on a school trip let's hope that was enough training"

when they reached the next corner bob turned around setting lüziel down and opposite to what bob was expecting lüziel took the bow and went balck around the corner

„i knew it. you saw exactly what i was doing. rina try catching it"

from the other team another smoke bomb came flying. during the time it was in the air simultaneously where lüziel shooting an arrow towards the other team, rina turning around and running back on the street they came from and the other team shooting an arrow at them. the arrow lüziel shot missed it's target by a lot but made the other team forcefully dodge for the case he did aim properly. this movement made it so that the one with fedora miss aimed his shoot shooting to much left to protect the spot where the smoke bomb was flying towards. thanks to there now being nothing in the way rina could safely jump and grab the bomb and throwing it far behind her letting it explode far behind her.

„so how much more have you left. the bow costs 300, the 5 arrows cost 100, the lances receptively 200 and 300 and the smoke bomb cost 50 each. you are already at 1000 tallon used but if i add everything together you should only have at maximum around 900 if you where the madman marth said you where so that one next to you is sponsoring you. that would give you at least another 100. how about we turn the offer around and say you give us the 5 flags and we let you go"

they where now in a deadlock. other groups where standing at parallel crossings staring at each other. both sides having one bow pointed at the other side

„even it where true what you where saying, that i am out of money, do you really think you can beat us. that bow might as well be useless on someone who aims like you do and we still have these"

he was waving a bit with his naganita to show the weapon advantage. lüziel was not impressed by that continuing his explanation

„but wait that's not all. you had a weirdly easy time tracking us and even could aim through thick fog so there was more you bough. i couldn't find anything by name that could explain your abilities but it probably wasn't cheap and even if i subtract the 3 first times you did it, being payed by someone else in your group instead, you still used that once during this fight and i doubt it is something cheap"

„that still doesn't change that we are in an advantage"

„why don't you come at us then, any idea."

for rina it suddenly made click understanding what lüziel was talking about

„if they attack us they can't refresh the flag time"

„that's right it has been a while hasn't it. i wonder how long that one behind you will keep on living. is it long enough for a fight probably not. but you also don't wan't to show us where you hide your flags or it would be to easy for the third person to snatch them while you deal with the other 2. is it enough time to try to intimidate us into giving up, thats more like it."

while talking did lüzel slowly approach them holding his bow up with an arrow drawn and with each step it got more certain that he would hit them if fired

„YOU ARE WAY TO COCKY. GO WE JUST FINISH THEM OF QUICKLY"

the one with fedora was rushing at lüziel who was not able to do anything but stand firm with the threat of the arrow shot. this did not stop him and the moment before lüziel shot he jumped out of the way readying and attack

„i told you that that bow is useless on you"

„nooo lüziel"

rina was screaming unable do do something while lüziel was simply awaiting his death. bob was running towards him but before the naganita hit and before bob could reach him

congratulations

team bob, elise, lüziel, marthurwainian and rina won the first round of capture the flag

reward: 100 tallon

this message my did stop the wing but instead of hitting lüziel it phased right through his neck. under these circumstances all of them could only utter one word

„WHAT?"

collectively all of them where in disbelieve at this situation. with racing heart lüziel broke down to the ground and shortly after got unconscious from the stress and exhaustion he gained from this 6 minutes chase. on the other side while all of these event where happening both marth and elise had their own intense battles. marth was dodging the two chasing him but the longer they hunted him the harder it got to get away without completely running out of elises range leaving her stranded to fight on her own

„can't you just give up. i can continuous this forever. it would be so much easier if you just sat down and waited till you lost"

„says the one who get slower and slower"

„you should be the one to sit down and accept your loss"

marth was starting to run low on breath but he knew that all he needed to do was hold out and hope, hope that elise understood what he meant to say but couldn't. elise was now fighting against kellam for 8 minutes and barely holding out the entire time. it was not just his speed and strength but also his techniques where cleaner and better than hers. he was on a totally different level from her and it took all of her concentration to keep him at bay. she knew that it was close to her breaking point, her muscles got tired and her head foggy. at maximum she could continuous this for two more minutes if she was lucky. maybe it was just fate but in a critical moment her opponent hold in for just a split second giving her enough room to get a bit of distance. behind her far away she now could hear people screaming

„now we got you. take your last breath before we finish both of you together!"

marth was now gambling on this. he knew that elise was already fighting them when he came to her so the timer had to be already down but he didn't knew how much. if it was more than 3 minutes this would be way to risky but he wasn't able to run away much longe and elise was right in therms of fighting someone for the first time he wasn't that great so even 2 badd fighters cold easily overwhelm him. this was his last option, drag out the fight with elise as long as possible and use the crucial moment where the enemy forces would drop to 1 to win in one strike.

„elise RUN!"

under normal circumstances she would have said or at the least thought something mean about him but right now she was relived that help arrived no matter who it was and without thinking she put all of her force into one final block followed by turning around and sprinting in the direction the call came from. while running past each other all she could hear was

„not much... right..."

she finally understood. if marth would have said from the beginning that his left was weaker than he would have realized it himself and made it impossible for her to break through with their skill gap so all he could do was pin her attention to the sides. she didn't have much time to think as she was running head first into the two from before

„you are still alive?"

„just shut up!"

knowing that those two didn't have much skill she used all of her frustration to hit them as hard as she could as greeting making both o their faces white for a moment. all of them where exhausted so this was only a war of attrition at this point. as long as elise could keep her breath would she not loose to them. on the other side was now marth standing in front of kellam. his first surprise attack did nothing but waste a bit of time but that was his win condition anyways.

„please go easy on me. i'm not a martial artist after all"

to his dismay did his opponent not try to pick up the small talk and instead was first making attempts to just run past marth. he immediately picked up on what was going on and instead of trying to stop him dead in his tracks he slowed him down as much as he could waisting precious time. it was only 50 second that he could last this so for the first time in his life he did something he would never do, he threw away all his reasoning and disregarded the safty of his own life. he threw away all his flags into the street near elise preventing kellam from being able to reach them and then jumped with his entire boy at him. he knew that he would even have the strength to win a grappling fight at full strength but all he need was just a bit more time

„ready or not here i COME!"

kellam was reasonably surprised as someone fringed himself at him who looked like he could even stand much longer. both of them where thrown on the ground from the impact but it took all of 1 swing of kellam to knock out marth. normally this would have been the end for them but this gamble payed of as all kellam was now trying to do was get to elise to finish her of leaving the unconscious marth safely lying on the ground ad thanks to this he was slowed down just enough to see his team mates collapse to the ground. elise had during this time reached a point where she was so far beyond exhaustion that she purely acted out of instinct, turning around the second they collapsed, grabbing marth flags of the ground while running towards kellam and attacking him with two strikes one as a faint and a second exactly where marth told her to with as much force as she had left into kellams side making him scream in pain completely dropping his guard getting thrown down to the ground by elise and then getting taken away 2 bundles of flags he tied tightly behind his back. the moment the second bundle got taken from kellam the win message appeared and elise got forcefully repelled from kellam.

„it's a shame we weren't on the same team. you are a diamond in the rough i would love to see grow"

with that said marth, elise and kellam vanished in green light

when lüziel came back from the dead he was surrounded by the others all looking like they where at the end in a physical but mostly mental way.

„you are not dead. i was so afraid. you told me to not be reckless but in the end where reckless yourself. don't ever scare me like that again"

„you know you made her cry right, what an asshole"

rina was hugging lüziel tightly making it hard fro him to answer

„i didn't try to die ok. i am attached to my life like the guy next to me. he was just completely overpowering us in every way possible. you know ho it feels if something move through where your neck is supposed to be?"

„well it seems like you have no major other issues besides your leg. i couldn't find anything but i was still worried"

bob was now pulling up lüziels leg after rina let him go again looking at the bandage lüziel had where he was shot at

„ah it hurts! be a little less rough"

„it's nothing that would heal over time but you won't be able to do much running till then"

„as if i couldn't guess that. so you two won this just in the nick of time for us"

lüziel was looking at marth and elise but marth was just shacking his head

„i too got knocked out before it ended"

„i can't remember the end as well. i know that marth came and swapped with me but after that it all gets hazy until i woke up here"

„so no one knows what happened"

„i remember again. he told me you tell you that his name was zenos and ehm... i don't know i didn't care much for it anyways"

rina was thinking but ended up in a blank about what zenos told them

„he said that we could be friend when we next time meet"

bob was now filling in for rinas gap. when lüziel woke up there where already a few teams there. now that he looked around he saw 7 other teams

„by the way we only have like 2 hours left until the next round starts. they really give us no resting time"

marth was looking at a timer within his menu while speaking. they took the remaining time to tell lüziel what happened last round from marth and elises side and then all continued to rest like they did before. lüziel tried to get used while walking around with a damaged leg noticing that he really could put any pressure on his leg without it hurting while rina was closely following him not letting him out of her eyes. again with a ringing exactly on time they all vanished and this time there was nothing. around them wall in front of them a football field sized even field of dirt with no obstacle or anything surrounded by even more walls. on the other side the other team.

„this got to be a joke! after all we had to go through the last round all we get now is a blank field where fighting is the only option we have."

„if it is one then it's not funny. i'm still feeling awful"

„so in other words we have two in our team that can fight at full strength, two who are heavily hindered and i basically can do nothing in an all out brawl."

„at last we have one massive advantage with the 6 flags we gained from last round"

„6?"

„apparently you can get more than the required number but no idea how, no one of us remembered what happened"

while they they complaining about their situation did the other team start to move

„no time to think, 1 sec strategy meeting, as long as they don't have weapons..."

marth was looking over at them

„as longe as they don't have MORE weapons, we maybe can beat them with face tanking"

„ah yes an arrow to the leg was not enough i think i should also have a sword cut of my arm"

„how about this instead, the most agile of us is rina so we keep them busy you steal their flags"

it only took a while until the other team reached them and now that they had no other choice marth used the trick he stole from zenos and bought a smoke bomb throwing it right before them covering the area in thick smoke. the other team had to stop in front of it or they would risk attacking their team mates or get attacked out of the lack of sight.

„this just last for 2 minutes so all it does is give us a bit more time to think"

„that's it what he can do so can i, where is the bow i bought"

„bow?"

marth was looking confused but not like anyone could see him doing so

„we forgot to pick it up"

„that was a fluke, but how many more people could there be that actually know how to use weapons and aren't just swinging them around randomly. this is way less dangerous as the round before and only two have some anyways"

„i saw their flags so i can get them!"

rinas voice was popping up out of the fog

„so you know exactly where they are and have a plan to grab them?"

„yes!"

„in that case bob are you ok being used as battering ram?"

„what are you talking about"

„we hit and run. you are still at full strength and in raw power no one here can match you very likely so all you need to do is run full fore at them and if they don't move aside me make them while rina can use that confusion to grab some flags. elise i hop e you are ready t block of a sword because it will hurt if you mess it up"

„you really hate me do you. as long as its one strike i'm able to block it even if it hits me. i got punched often enough to know how to deal with pain"

the fog started to clear out before they could finish their strategy meeting

„times up"

„how nice of you to wait for us"

now that the other team was standing closer they could see that they where even harder hit than they are changing the math completely. if you would see this scene from a far you would probably think that the other team is the one who gets attacked also clearing why they made absolutely no moves while they where hiding in the fog. despite that they still attempted to attack and with them already having made a plane they automatically moved to action accordingly on this stimuli. elise was up ahead with bob following her and marth trying his best to carry lüziel. it went as expected elise was able to block one of the swords showing her stubbornness to go through with something she set mind on by just holding her arm in the way of the second as she could reach the one who swung it. being overwhelmed the ‚offense' of the other team quickly became a halve assed defense not being able to stop the massive bob who said sorry every time he hit someone away which lead to more confusion than actually doing it's intended purpose. rina was able to grab some flags but all she could get was 2 making this game last longer than they would wish for.

„now what?"

„you think i thought that far, it's called hit and run so now we run"

elise was holding her arm with her hand mumbling some curse word while they took their distance from the other team

„let me see this, we need to quickly stop the bleeding"

bob was ripping of part of his shirt binding it extremely tight around elises wound

„when you said even if it hit you i didn't think you meant that you actually are trying to get hit"

„what else should i have done. it's better to get sliced where you wan't to get hit than somewhere random"

after this maneuver the other team was now no longer eager to get into a straight forward fight taking their distance

„so that's a trick that only works once what is the next?"

„i lost them, i lost my flags"

bob was searching everywhere but couldn't find any of his 3 flags

„so we are not the only once with someone who has nimble fingers. we are now worse of then when we started"

„so you're telling me i did this for nothing"

while marth was giving bob some of the other flags they gain in the previous rounds was elise angrily pointing at her arm

„not quite, we now at least know that combat really isn't their strength but trickery. they are so roughed up because they took purposefully hits to take flags in exchange."

„thats a great consultation price, thank you"

„we just do what we saw our last opponents do. normally i think that's a bad idea because of exactly the weakness i abused but we are not dealing with people who can lock us in combat meaning we take no risk. elise give me your flags"

„what, never!"

„you can still punch with your left all you need to do is hit hard as bob over here is just to soft to actively attack others"

„sorry but i just can't condone this to a degree where i myself would attack. i'm only ok with this because we have no other chance and at least we're doing the least harmful option"

bob was looking a bit depressed having lost the flags and also not being useful for this

„so you just want me hit them hard and you allow me to beat them to a pulp despite this being trampling on the weak"

„that's the plan, but please do it no to brutal ok, we are still all humans"

„i can also help. i can get more flags without the guys with swords"

„that's the plan. this time it's going to be a change of roles."

marth pulled out a sword from the shop

„if they can swing a sword then i'm sure i can do it better, i hope you help me"

marth was looking at lüziel

„i was already waiting for that. i have now completely given up on saving points so how about i show them how you do it for real"

lüziel too was pulling out a sword from the shop paying another 300 tallon leaving only 113 left not enough to buy any more weapons after this. both rina and elise secretively gave up their flags to marth and lüziel respectively and then the group approached. the other group who still didn't make another move was now brought into the bredouille. they could either run away or try to fight but with what they experienced just before that they chose to use the first option.

„bob you may not be able to fight them but at least try to stop them getting past you. you are intimidating enough as you are"

„let me take that as a compliment"

they now spread out circling in the other team. lüziel who could move quickly was in the middle walking lowly straight at them while next to him a couple meters distanced to the one side where marth and to the other rina. next to rina another meters distanced was bob while to the other side of marth was elise. without even thinking did the other team choose elises side as they didn't wan't to confront with bob for a second time but she did let's them get near her without scaring them a lot by suddenly starting to scream and run at them when there where in a range she felt comfortable in not letting them go. rina ran with full speed over having to reach them from the other side while marth was quickly picking up lüziel with them moving as fast as you can with 3 legs towards the center of the action. bob choose during all of this to just go behind them covering any wanna be escape artists. the other team tried their best but in between lüziel and marth swinging their swords much more confident and elise going full on berserker mode they choose to surrender after a short confrontation.

„aaah. where are they? she has no flags? aah"

„SO YOU WHERE THE SNEAKY ONE"

„i just can't get a hold of her!"

„you are way to slow for me, i watched magician my entire life to prepare for this"

„how does that even make sense!"

„you barely can touch me when i can't even move properly you really wan't to try your luck a bit longer"

„how do you do that lüziel? it's so hard swinging a sword without spinning out or being super stiff. i don'T know what i'm doing but i know it's wrong"

despite marth saying that he was still easily dealing with his opponent who was even less comfortable with the sword

„THAT'S IT WE GIVE UP YOU CAN TAKE THEM"

marth and lüziel where shortly looking at each other as their enemies suddenly lost all will to fight then answered in synch

„for real?"

„all we wanted is to survive this and we where ready to take a lot of pain if it meant surviving but we can't beat you and our tactic is useless. i can't let my team mates get needlessly hurt"

he threw 7 flags at marth who picked them up to end the game

„the other two teams where brutes and people as weak as us. the only reason we got these swords was to scare them enough to steal the flags but that doesn't work against people who don't fear swords"

with these last words both teams vanished or the last time. for the first time they did not appeared back in the broken city but instead where in a white room. around them multiple couches and a table with a first aid kit a bottle of water and glasses. the flags they had to hold on as important as their own life where all gone.

„for once this is quite the nice reception after going through multiple death games"

„it's so bouncy and soft"

rina immediately jumped on the couch bouncing up and down

„well, at least one person is not at their end"

„why does this shit hurt so much"

„let me lock at it now that we have a first aid kit"

„wait, wait, this hurts, au, stop it. why are you so darn strong!"

bob was removing the emergency bandage from elise revealing a seep but clean cut lüziel was sitting down on the sofa next to where rina was bouncing on waving at marth

„you don't have to stand there. it stands right here we won. we now have to wait for the next event to start."

lüziel was pointing at the purple screen in front of him

Mission Capture the Flag cleared

Achievement: 1/3

never lose cleared

clean victory not cleared

annihilation not cleared

Reward: 300 tallon

0 tallon

0 tallon

Bank: 113 tallon + 300 tallon

„and i ended with less than i started. well it's better than dying i guess"

„look lüziel i can bounce even higher than on my bed"

„rina don't break it"

marth started to laugh seeing the bunch in front of him

„you just go on like this was nothing, do you"

„i'm still sad that the other people had to lose but i cannot lose lüziel so i have to go on"

„some fuckers dying is now the status quo so why bother"

„you can't go saying things like that. we are civilized humans we can't just accept people dying"

„i have to agree to bob with that. the last thing i want to lose is my humanity. i have some standards i want to meet"

marth was sitting down next to lüziel and they needed to wait for quite a while until something happened

„i am so sorry for the hold up but we had to make some adjustments last minutes for the last part of act 2."

yhvlton popped up on a screen at the wall that itself also popped up on the wall

„congratulations on the winning teams you will gain special skills to choose from in the upcoming skill selection. those who made it through the loses match will also get the choice of a skill but with less options. you will gain a 2 hour time to choose from the given skills and everyone not having on until then will obtain a random one. a skill obtained here will permanently change what you can do in the future to choose carefully. i will come back once the time is over and explain the real next mission of the third part"

the screen disappeared again with all 5 getting for the first time a black message

The Special Skill shop is now open

you will have a one time chance to get a special skill for free

so look carefully for the right one

do you want to go to the skill shop

„FINALLY!!!! MIAU 'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS THE MIALL TIME"

marth was jumping up in excitement followed by elise

„WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT"

„oh i totally forgot you're a freak. you spoke the entire time like a normal human being letting me forgot how we met"