Bonus Still Means Death

In the room, Naoki, Souta, and Astro continued to a dark room with hanging ropes.

Souta: “Oh how conventional? Hanging us by our throats. I would’ve rather you shoot me with the laser again and I don’t get any points.”

Death Bringer: “Do not fret. Please. Please. As the winners, we try to come up with as many ways as possible for deaths. It is quite hard sometimes to satisfy everyone’s needs due to some dying too many times in these weekly competitions. What I did not mention before was that this is the bonus round. The game you just played with game 5, but for the winners, this is the bonus round for you all.”

Naoki: “What do you mean by that? What is this? Every winner gets this option?”

Death Bringer: “You see. This doesn’t always happen in these games. Out of the 12,678 times we have conducted these games, a bonus round has only happened about 4 times. Nobody in these games would know what this is, so they shouldn’t ask about it later on. However, just in case they do, if you do so speak a word, then your memory will be wiped immediately and you will be killed on the spot. And I don’t mean killed and brought back in these games. Now! Since the nerves are out of the way, allow me to explain.”

Astro: “Wait. What if I said something outside of these games? How would you know?”

Death Bringer: “Well. It is true that we cannot stop you from doing this. However, the city is our magic. We own everything. As long as you are here, you won’t be able to speak of it. Ahh. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. If you did manage to get out of this place, even though I don’t know why you would want to, then we no longer have control. Understood?”

Astro: “Yeah. Understood.”

Death Bringer: “How this bonus round works is not really in the form of a game, but in the form of a choice. Do not worry about the ropes in front of you. That is not a choice that you have. All of you eventually will be hung from there as your death for winning the previous game. However, in this choice, there are 3 options. Option 1! You may pick a single person out of the remaining 98 players to take away their death tokens and add it to your own. This will not take away their death tokens, but will just be added to your own after the games are over without anyone noticing. Option 2! Items from the upcoming tournament will be shown on the right hand side for an extremely cheap price. You may choose as many items as you like and can be used at any time, even in the tournament. Finally, option 3! On the left hand side will be chaplets to choose from. They are pretty rare in fact. You may pick one chaplet if you do so pick that option. So! Look around and make your choice!”

Naoki immediately chose to add death tokens to his amount.

Naoki: “Hey. Who has the most death tokens? I’ll take that option.”

Death Bringer: “Hmm. Well there is a tie for a few people excluding yourselves. That would be…Ryukoko Mikaka, Kanna Kisejoro, and Octavious Iji.

Naoki: “Okay. I’ll take Ryukoko’s. Add it to my score.”

Souta: “Hey wait, Naoki. There is some serious stuff over here.”

Naoki: “I’m sure there is, but we don’t need it. Come on. Stop messing around and take the death tokens. It doubles our score. That will be way more than enough.”

Astro looked around at both sides. The swords looked interesting, but he had no use for them. They were strong for sure. In fact, they were natural swords found in Deceased Paradise with an extremely high rarity, but he wasn’t looking for that. On the table were also 3 different chaplets.

The first one was a clear chaplet filled completely with sand.

The second was a clear chaplet with a dark blue tint with water swishing at the bottom. On the water was a pirate ship floating.

Finally, the third chaplet was interesting. It had golden spikes poking out of a shield like structure along with gold balls as well. In the middle was a strange face in a diamond shape. It was purple with old skin. The eyes were bright orange covering most of the wrinkly skin along the nose and the mouth.

Astro didn’t know what any of these chaplets were. He passed on them not knowing what to pick. He went over to the other table instead to see what the weapons were.

Astro thought, ‘Death Bringer said that these weapons were to be used in the upcoming tournament right? Let’s see what I can get for cheap. What’s even good?’

There were 5 different weapons to pick from. They weren’t traditional swords though. They ranged all over with different abilities and appearances.

2 black gloves with a red dot in the middle on both gloves.

A grey and gold war hammer the size of him.

A rainbow colored sword.

A green camo sniper with yellow mana lines.

And a white shield with a white cross painted on it with all the ends of the cross painted in either red, blue, yellow, or green.

Astro had no idea what any of these did.

Astro: “Hey, how many death tokens do I have?”

Death Bringer: “Mmm. It looks like you have 11 at the moment, but after this win, we will honor the win, so you will be at 15.”

Astro looked at the weapons in front of him. Everything was half off what they would be at the tournament.

Astro: “Hey. How do I know what does what? I’ve never seen these things before.”

Death Bringer: “I cannot say. The event they host always changes weapons, so even I do not know what they do. However, you are one of few that have early access to them and at half the price.”

They were expensive. But, more expensive means probably better weapons.

Astro: “Hey. One more question. Can we use our own weapons in this tournament?”

Death Bringer: “That I know. You may not unless the tournament is a free for all, which in this case they have granted us weapons in advance, so your own weapons will be allowed as well as mana.”

He looked down once more before deciding. The rainbow sword was only 4 and the hammer was only 5. His options were the gloves, shield, and sniper. He needed something for Welpen though. If he could get them at half price, then he might as well do it here. He also knew though that the upcoming rounds could grant them more death tokens and there might be more expensive stuff at the arena.

The shield cost 11 and the sniper cost 15. He decided to spend all he had on the sniper.

Death Bringer: “Wise choice. We will set that aside for you at the end of the tournament. Your death tokens will also not reset yet until the games are over, but please be aware that you have 0. Thank you and please step up to the rope. As for you Sir Naoki and Sir Souta. Your total will not change either, but will be granted to you at the end. Thank you and please step up to the rope.

They stuck their heads in the ropes and awaited the outcome of pain that would arise with struggle. The room turned even darker until they could see nothing, but knew the death that awaited them until they returned back to the main area.