Four's A Crowd

Violet yawned and stretched over her back.

Violet: “Oh that felt good. Who’s ready to continue?”

Hoshi: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little drowsy.”

Souta: “How’s everyone feeling back there? I wouldn’t know. I’m all the way up by the finish line.”

Naoki: “Souta. Stop it. There is no point in starting unwanted arguments.”

Souta: “You just like to take all the fun out of everything, don’t you Mr.NoFunPolice.”

Violet: “One more insult and I might just lose it on you Souta.”

Souta: “Finally, someone with the audacity to respond. Although, what an empty threat you give.”

Violet: “Oh ho. Just wait till this game is over. I’ll show you an empty threat.”

Everyone moved on like nothing had happened, picking up their dice and rolling them.

Hoshi, like he predicted, rolled a 7 and didn’t advance.

Next to him, Violet rolled another wild as she jumped for joy.

Izumi rolled a 3 again and started to get frustrated.

Welpen rolled a 3 as well and fist bumped in the air knowing his victory was near.

Astro rolled a 6 like he had expected.

Naoki rolled a wild again with Violet and finally Souta rolled a 7.

Naoki: “You idiot. Why did you roll a 7?”

Souta: “I came here to win these games. I don’t need to die more than I have already. Besides, I’m gonna die at the end of the round. We don’t need every available death token. Like you said, we only need a certain amount.”

Naoki: “That was the standard price for his help you idiot. It would help knowing that we could give him more.”

Souta: “That jerk can screw off. What we give him is what we give him. He said he’d help. Otherwise, I’ll beat him so badly and break that stupid bird mask he wears so that he’ll show his dumb face.”

Violet and Naoki had to choose their death mark. Naoki’s only choice was to be frozen and Violet’s only choice was to kill herself with her own weapon.

Violet: “Well. Here we go. I guess I get nothing for this. Stupid game. Stupid commissioner.”

Violet pulled out a glossy silver sword with a snake designed handle. Her snakes wrapped around the blade and cemented while turning into blades themselves. It was like a 5 sided blade. The tip of the blade along with 2 long blades connecting side to side is an odd shape, but effective in Violet’s eyes. The square gap in the middle was big enough for her to put her own head in. She did so and the blades contracted on her neck, cutting it off in one swoop.

Naoki’s box filled with the same icy smoke from before and his lower body froze before eventually reaching his upper body and was sliced in half the same way Violet did.

Astro made sure to watch Violet’s body this time. He didn’t believe they could hide it this time. He was wrong. The floor beneath her opened and her body dropped through.

About 10 seconds later, she came up from the floorboards perfectly fine and her head was reattached to her neck.

‘It has to be a form of dark magic. Although, this many people at once? If Shin is that strong, then he’s the one doing this. Otherwise, if Kastor thinks this is a joke, the level that he is on is insane. Nobody has ever seen Kastor as far as I know. He’s either reviving people or he’s able to connect people back together with ease and so quickly too. This is crazy. How are they both stronger than the 10 Great Swordsmen? Maybe that’s why nobody has invaded their land in 400 years. I don’t think they’d win.’

For the first time in his life, Astro felt nervous. He had shut out his emotions for a long time having been raised in wrongful places. He subsided in pain and hasn’t cried since the death of his daughter and wife. Even now, his emotions have been shut out all this time, but these kids that he has taken in off a whim from the guild he was at has changed him even in the slightest. And now…Welpen has had the same effect on him that Lucky and Dante did. He felt even the slightest ounce of joy from these kids, but much like his wife and daughter, he couldn’t protect them. And now, in this very moment, even though he didn’t feel the need to protect Welpen, the sensation was enough to overwhelm him and make him nervous from this power that was before him. He was lucky to avoid Shin before, but he didn’t know if he could do it again.

Welpen: “Astro. Astro…Astro!”

Astro snapped back into it and apologized.

Welpen: “You were spacing out. Thought I’d get you back here. The next round is starting.”

2 people were on the verge of winning. Naoki and Astro.

It was almost inevitable who was going to cross the line, but everyone rolled away. Hoshi rolled a 4 and did not advance. Violet yet again rolled the bonus side as did Welpen this time. Izumi rolled a 4 finally as well and Naoki rolled a 7 to cross the line. As for Astro, he rolled a wild as well.

Welpen was nervous for him. He knew that Astro had already taken his space forward and now had to be killed in some way.

As for the others, Welpen was able to advance forward having rolled the bonus side for his first time. Violet chose yet again to be frozen over again. This time, she was granted no death points having already been killed by that technique.

Welpen didn’t concern himself with her though. All he wanted to do was watch as Astro was going to die right in front of his face this time.

Astro thought about what to do. ‘I don’t want to use my scythe. It will activate and might kill everyone here and Shin might come down here and kill me. I’ve already drunk enough poison. Plus that is quick. I won’t be able to see anything. If I choose to get frozen, my scythe might be able to process some of the mana. It’s a longshot, but it’s the only good option. I might be able to analyze some of it too since it’s the slowest option.

Astro chose this as ice began to freeze him from the bottom, upwards. Welpen wanted to look, but he couldn’t. He turned away and kneeled down on the floor.

Astro and his scythe were very connected and in sync. They had been through a lot, but analyzing magic is something they didn’t do often. Witches usually have this ability with chaplets, but it takes time to decipher. However, chaplets can only show so much. Astro’s scythe could do it without a chaplet. He didn’t know why, but it wasn’t like he heavily questioned it considering it wasn’t that powerful of an ability.

Astro had spent some time with Abby who had told him about this and even tried to teach him, but it was extremely difficult without the chaplet. However, he had no choice at the present moment.

The ice froze halfway to his body.

They both focused without presenting mana lines, but it was utterly impossible. Astro gave up and tried to instead feel the flow of mana that was possessing. He already knew, but just wanted to confirm the presence of dark magic before he became scattered in pieces.

Nobody could see him, but his scythe.

As the pieces of his body became put back together, his body was blinded from his scythe even. He was up and ready to go within seconds without knowing a thing, but had gained some death tokens.

Welpen shouted with joy when he finally looked his way and saw that he was fine. Astro wanted this game to end. They all quickly rolled again, in which this time, he purposely rolled a 7 as the game concluded. Everyone else did not advance except for Hoshi, who moved to the 6th spot.

Hoshi: “Oh. I might’ve had a shot had I moved forward earlier. Look at that Violet. I would’ve even beat you.”

Death Bringer: “Congrats you three. As per these games, the winners will receive death tokens after one more death. Please make your way through the doors in front of you before you advance back down to your seats.”

Welpen: “Bye Astro! Bye!”

The three of them walked through the doors into a dark room out of view from everyone.

Death Bringer: “As for the 4 of you. I’m sorry, but you have lost the game. Please head back through the doors you came in and back down the elevator once the barriers release.”

Welpen: “Yes! I won! I did it. I did it. I did it.”

Izumi: “These stupid games get so frustrating. Good job Welpen. Although, I wanted to win this round. I barely got there.”

Violet: “Shut your trap Izumi. Stop playing the nice card. I was fine with it until now, but you’re being loud and annoying.”

Izumi: “Huh? What did I do?”

Violet: “There you go again. Why don’t I just tell the boy myse–”

Hoshi: “Come on Violet. Let them do their own thing. We’re just here to have fun.”

Violet: “Tch!”

The four of them walked back to the elevator back down to their seats where they awaited the competitors from the round while Naoki, Souta, and Astro headed towards an uncertain room.