Vivian was the first one to speak.

"Well..."

Her voice was softer than before, but that somehow made it a lot worse. All Deon could think about was how she was mocking him, even if she hadn’t meant to.

"You really have changed, Little Day."

"Shut up."

Vivian blinked once, then let out a small laugh through her nose. "Ha! My bad then. Guess I’ll go sulk in this corner or something."

Deon didn’t entertain her, already opening up his system panel.

Hana took a hesitant step toward him, lips parting as if she wanted to say his name. For a second, he could feel her worry. Her hand hovered near his sleeve, close enough to touch but not quite brave enough to pull.

But if she asked whether he was okay now, whether if there were any alternate options—he’d relapse back into his old self.

So Deon turned his back, pulling away from her touch before looking down at the blue panel in front of him.

[Preparation Phase]

[Time Remaining: 04:48]

There’s no time. Focus on the present, Deon.

But as he thought that to himself, Deon had realized that he knew nothing about what was going to happen next. Before, he was following Levi’s words, and that had worked out well enough.

Deon thought about it. Without Levi? He was just the same as any other contestant—completely clueless and left to react to the whims of Miracle Royale’s production.

Deon closed his eyes and looked up, imagining the surrounding area almost like a map.

Mihan Park wasn’t like Shinso Bridge. There were no convenient chokepoints or areas that could be blocked off with barricades.

If monsters came from one direction, they could handle it. If they came from two, they could split. But if the Miracle Royale decided to be annoying and sent them from every side at once, then this Chair would turn into a slaughterhouse.

So the best course of action...is to follow what Levi did. Don’t fix something that isn’t broken.

"Everyone," he said, voice cutting through the heavy silence. "Tell me what Cards you have."

The entire party of five flinched, even Vivian, faces looking like Deon had asked them to hand over their lunch money.

The mohawk guy didn’t seem nearly as amused. "Why the hell should we tell you?"

"Because if I don’t know what you can do, I can’t put you where you’re useful."

"You hear that?" the man said, looking toward Vivian and the others. "He’s already acting like he owns the team."

"Where was that energy?"

The man with the mohawk glanced back at him. "Huh?"

"I said...where was that energy?" Deon repeated. "When they were asking for our help—where was that energy?"

"When someone needed to step up, I don’t remember you doing so?" he added. "Now that the hard part’s over, suddenly you have the balls to—"

"Alright man," the mohawk guy raised his arm in defense, cutting Deon off.

"I get it, my bad."

Tch... stay calm, Deon. Levi was right. This approach was the simplest and easiest way to gain trust after all.

Deon reached into his pocket and pulled out a gray Card, holding it between two fingers where everyone could see the lettering across its face.

"[Blade]."

Gray light spilled from the Card and poured into his palm, forming the familiar katana.

The high school boy’s eyes widened, and the mohawk guy seemed like he was already reassessing Deon despite the scowl still sitting on his face.

Deon let the katana dissolve back into the [Blade] Card and slipped both away.

"There," he said. "I went first. I’m not asking you to expose anything I’m not willing to expose, too."

The twins looked at each other again. Then the one with the short hair stepped forward and pulled out a gray-bordered Card.

"[Push]."

The other twin with the ruined jacket followed a second later, quieter but no less direct.

"[Pull]."

Deon stared at the two Cards, then at their identical faces. "Of course. It makes too much sense, honestly."

The twin with [Push] frowned. "What does that mean?"

"The System has a sense of humor."

The twin with [Pull] looked down at her Card, then at her sister’s, and seemed to understand a second later. "Oh."

"How strong?" Deon asked immediately.

"Not enough to throw those big black things away," the short-haired girl said, likely meaning Infantry. "But I can shove a Hound back if it’s mid-lunge. I can knock things off balance too, but only if they’re not too heavy."

Deon turned to the girl with the ruined jacket, "I’m assuming yours is roughly the same?"

"Yeah..."

He looked at them both, already deciding on where to put them. "Names?"

"Mina."

"Nami."

"..."

"...Seriously? Well, whatever."

Deon turned toward the mohawk guy now, but it was clearly obvious what the man can do. The fireaxe in his hand was likely from a common Weapon-type Card, the same as his or Celine’s.

"Name?"

"Ryker," the man answered with way less bravado than before.

Deon nodded, gaze finally landing onto the high school boy. "Alright, what’s yours?"

"R-Right...I—I’m Jin."

"...Your Card," Deon clarified. "But good to know."

"Oh."

He reached into his pocket with both hands and pulled out a green-bordered Card. Unlike the twins’ gray Cards, this one gave off a faint shimmer that immediately caught Deon’s eye.

"[Summon Hound]," the boy said quietly.

Hana stiffened almost immediately, but Deon couldn’t blame her.

The first things that had almost killed them in this game were Hounds. Seeing someone summon one probably wasn’t going to feel comforting.

The boy noticed Hana’s reaction too and quickly shook his head. "I-It’s not like the ones outside. I mean, it looks similar, but it listens. It doesn’t attack people unless I tell it to."

"Summon it," Deon said.

The boy swallowed. "Here?"

"Yeah."

He nodded nervously and held the Card forward. "Summon Hound."

Green light spilled across the ground before shaping itself into a four-legged figure until a pale Hound stood in front of them.

It looked disturbingly close to the Ruined Hounds outside the barrier, but there were differences. Particularly that its eyes were glowing a faint green instead of the bloodshot red Deon was used to.

The boy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "His name is Biscuit."

Deon looked at the Hound again as Biscuit stared back.

"Fine," he sighed. "Biscuit can stay."

Their Cards aren’t the worst...actually considering how random Miracle Royale seemed to be with its reward, the overall composition is good.

Mina and Nami can work as supports alongside Hana while Ryker and Biscuit over there can act as frontline.

And Vivian...

"Do you want to know mine too?" she asked almost immediately as his eyes found hers.

"No."

"No?" she repeated.

"I don’t need to know yours."

Ryker frowned immediately. "Hold on. You made all of us show ours, but Big Sis doesn’t have to?"

"I didn’t make you do anything," Deon said. "I showed mine first and asked. You chose to answer."

Deon continued before Ryker could complain further. "She’s fifth place. That’s all I need to know."

He turned, already expecting some kind of jab or quip from Vivian, but surprisingly...she stayed quiet.

Was it surprise? Pride? No...don’t start guessing feelings now. I need to figure out the shape of this Round.

But as Deon thought about it more, a twisted thought came to mind. And he knew it was true as well. Considering how rule changes were so common, it would be foolish to expect the same thing as last round.

His mind ran through every possible change the game could throw at them.

What if the Chair moved? What if the Flag became the target? What if we had to escort something? Capture something?

There were simply too many likely options...and Deon hated it. His eyes moved to the timer.

[Preparation Phase]

[Time Remaining: 03:09]

"...Damn it."

Hana stepped a little closer, careful this time not to touch him. "What’s wrong?"

He stepped away from the others, just out of earshot range before replying. "I know what everyone can do. But I don’t know what we’re supposed to do."

Hana furrowed her eyebrows. "Isn’t it just defending the Chair?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

But as the words left his mouth, something else occurred to him. Deon realized that, even if he didn’t have Levi’s knowledge of the Games...he had something else.

Quickly, he turned toward the right side of his vision where the [Stream] tab had been closed.

If Viewers could request rule changes, then at least some of them might know patterns to the Games. Some have probably seen hundreds of these games before. They should know.

The translucent window unfolded at the edge of his vision, messages immediately crawling upward.

He passed through most of the comments that were just designed to heckle or make fun of him, but his eyes stopped around a single Viewer’s messages.

[LovesAGoodBargain: You finally realized it.]

The golden-framed username sat there, calm and smug, as if the Viewer had been waiting for this exact moment.

[LovesAGoodBargain: Do you want to know?]

A second message appeared beneath it.

[LovesAGoodBargain: If so—]

[Let’s make a deal.]