Plan B

“Sorry, Hayato-—” She pointed the gun at him. “I prefer I survive over you; you don't have what it takes to beat this.”

Hayato stood there, crying.

“Yuka-onee-chan! Wake up!” Misuki's voice reached her ears and Yuka's eyes opened. “Shit, why did I have to dream of that…”

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Hayato landed on his feet, twisting, dropping Silvia off. The wing man laughed as he descended, throwing a kick. Hayato blocked it. The winged-man expertly flew as he navigated himself towards Silvia, grabbing her arms, lifting her off the ground. She tried to use her body weight but instead, hovered in the air. Silvia used her clones to hold her feet. He lifted those two as well as she created a third clone to hold onto herself. “Let me go!”

Silvia pulled herself down, dragging him down with her. Hayato flew towards him and he immediately let go, clicking his tongue.

“I'm here, Finn.” Vennasa punched the air multiple times, sending several dark energy blasts towards Hayato, who dodged them “Ha, moron, I'm not targeting you. I'm giving a signal.”

Hayato looked back and noticed how it darkened their sky. This is bad. Everyone will start to rush here.

“Where is that Youngwoo kid? He is supposed to help?” Finn asked as he eyed Hayato's shoulder.

“Please, that kid is a deadweight. He’s scared to fight,” Vennasa said. “We still got Austin.”

Silvia decided to gain some courage and she had all her clones fight Vennasa. She bit her lips as she forced herself into close combat. I can now do four clones, I’m getting better at this. The clones ran into each other in a zigzag pattern to distract her.

“Can you guess which one of us is real?” They all spoke.

“It doesn't matter who is real.” Vennasa’s attack hit a clone, melting it off, but another clone was duplicated. The more attacks she exchanged, the more clones kept getting duplicated. “I'll just kill all of you at once!”

Vennasa swung horizontally, letting her attack sweep through the clones.

“The answer is none.” Silvia whispered from behind. She jumped on Vennasa’s back, holding her arms apart, her legs wrapped around on her waist, and her feet tucked underneath her back thighs. “What should I do now, Genesis!”

“Both of you listen, I have a way where we can all win. No one needs to die, from the green or red team,” Hayato quickly said, trying to stop an attack that Finn launched at him. Vennasa noticed the lack of hostility, so she slammed into the ground, aggressively driving her back into Silvia. Silvia tried to suck the pain and keep a hold on her.

“As if there is a way to win like that.” Finn exchanged blows as Hayato saw through each attack.

I don’t want to kill. “There is. If everyone in the green team joins the red team, everyone can win. Nobody needs to die.” Hayato shared his ideas.

The idea seemed to startle Finn and even Vennasa on the ground. They both seemed momentarily confused. “You think… a loophole like that, nobody thought of?”

“The game is set up in which you target the Red because you believe they are alone without any support, making them an easy target for you. On top of that, it makes you so busy trying to get a hang of your abilities and get an easy win, that you don’t have time to think of anything else.” Hayato shared his perspective. “That’s why most people don’t get the choice to think because the choice is already made.”

They both didn't think of it like that. “How do we know you aren't just trying to win for yourselves? You must have seen there is less than an hour and there are only four of you. We can win right now, if we kill you!”

Finn dived down, having already noticed Hayato's lack of attack, and capitalized on it.He held Hayato's hand, using his superior speed and flying ability to swing him around the air rapidly, before throwing him to the ground. Hayato crashed near Yuka, who was pulling herself together from the nightmare she had.

“Do you really think you can convince them? Just kill them.” He pissed her off. “I told you no one will follow your plans.”

“N-no, I can convince them,” Hayato said determined.“I don't want to kill!”

Yuka frowned. Why am I being reminded of Hayato? Must be because of that dream. “If you don't convince them fast enough, we are the ones dying. Keep that in mind!”

The ground trembled as a big tree started to pull itself out of the ground, its giant roots crawling out. “I can convince them!”

He flew back into the sky, racking his brain for ways to build trust. “We don’t want to win by ourselves, what’s the point in that? What can I do to make you believe me?”

Silvia's grip weakened from Vennasa’s struggles.

“Finn, don't listen to him, Austin is here! He can kill them all!”

Finn seemed to think about it before he grinned. “If you want me to believe you, then maybe break your own leg.”

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“Well, well, well, who would have thought someone else would have the same idea as Allen Vult?” Ruri smiled in amusement, swinging his legs excitedly. “The only hider in history who won round two with zero deaths. It’s too bad he is among the top ten villains.”

“What are you going to do about that girl!” A dwarf slammed his desk.

“How come nobody has successfully killed her?” A giffron yelled, pissed.

“She has been killing so many Greens yet nobody has been able to hold her down? No way she is that good!” An elf cried out.

“Why did she even switch teams? It was only one person they needed to kill, now she has killed more than needed!” A lion scoffed.

“Blame yourselves for having weak sponsee? Why are you blaming mine for being better?” Azrael usually never interacted with people from other races. He is hailed across the kingdom for being among the strongest, outside of the royal family, so he never cared about snarky comments. However, they were essentially begging he was dead instead of them. He couldn’t let the disrespect go.The room was overtaken with bloodlust; it would have suffocated an average citizen, but no one in the room was average..

Evan decided to cut the silence with a reminder. “Your fate is already sealed. Wishing death on her wouldn’t change the outcome. The grim reaper will still show up regardless of who won this round now.”

Every player’s sponsor, on the green team who had already passed away, glared at Azrael, who crossed his leg and beckoned them over to fight him.

“Don’t worry, everyone. Austin will take revenge for everyone. He has one of the most powerful abilities: elemental power,” A fairy spoke, smirking.

“That’s right, we have two with elemental power, Ryota and Austin; they won’t die easily.”

Azrael wasn’t the type to feel uneasy, but even he had to take a deep breath. It’s not just the green team who wants her dead now. Everyone wants her dead. “Why did she have to switch teams.

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“He is such a loser, look at him taking everyone’s beating!” The darkened faces of the boys laughed as they kicked the beaten boy on the ground who was in a fetal position. His hands were on his head, protecting himself from any attacks. They continued until they grew tired.

“Are you going to give us the money or not?” they asked.

Hayato pulled himself up, bruised everywhere. He shook his head. Instead of getting mad, they sighed. “There is no point in bullying him. He doesn’t budge no matter how many days we beat him. We are wasting our time with him.”

They looked at him pitifully but then walked away, finding no point in bullying him when there were no results.

“Would you join the red team if I broke both of my legs?” Hayato asked, and Finn nodded.

“Finn, are you crazy?” Vennasa yelled, her entire body weight on Silvia's back, who couldn’t move.

“There is no way he would break his legs.” Finn shrugged as if to say, ‘you know’.

Hayato took a deep breath and looked at the tree bark. Don’t be a fool. His thoughts warned him. If it saves people’s lives, I don’t care.

Hayato saw a huge rock and he grabbed it, smashing it on his leg. Both Vennasa, Silvia and Finn watched, startled. He brought it down, blood soaked his pants, and the crack of bones became clear as Hayato gritted through the pain. He then stood up limply and kicked his leg at the bark. There was a loud pop, and Hayato immediately fell down. He heaved in and out as he looked at Finn. “Do you believe me now?”

Finn’s lips twisted, but Vennasa yelled. “Kill him now Finn!”

Finn didn’t move, seemingly in deep thought. “Finn?”

Hayato hoped his sincerity moved his heart. Tears poured out from Silvia’s eyes. “Genesis, you idiot! Why did you do that.”

“I need to prove to them that I am telling the truth,” Hayato answered. They will feel my sincerity. They will know this is beneficial for them. Everyone can live if I just sacrifice my leg.

“Finn? We only need to get rid of these two! Don’t forget, I sent a signal. There are around twenty players that can fight! If you switch teams, you will be against too many.” Vennasa’s words seemed to bring him back to reality.

“You are right.” Finn flew down and pulled Hayato by his broken legs to fly high above.“Let’s kill him.”