One second, he was staring at the shattered armor around the Brute Crawler’s last spike, trying to force his body to move. The next, a soft green light wrapped around his chest, his shoulder, and his burned arm.

"Basic Heal!"

When did she get behind me?

Deon blinked, trying to focus through the ringing in his ears. His vision was still blurred at the edges. The broken tree pressed against his back, and his left hand refused to stop trembling from the impact.

It didn’t fix everything, not even close, but at least it stopped making every breath feel like he was inhaling sand.

"Hana...?"

"Don’t talk," she said, both hands gripping the [Basic Heal] Card so tightly her knuckles had gone white. "Just stay still."

It’s working again...the cooldown must’ve finished.

He glanced back at the Brute Crawler. Deon could finally damage it now, but that didn’t mean the creature didn’t know its weakness.

In fact, now with most of the exoskeleton gone, it became way faster, like it had dropped off its training weights. It launched toward Jin, who had collapsed to one knee inside the claimed circle.

"No—!"

But just before it reached, a figure came out from the side and kicked it right in the torso, moving it just off enough to miss Jin.

"Hey there, big guy," Vivian said, both hands gripping bloodied daggers as she stared intensely at the monster.

She stepped backward as the Brute Crawler lunged again, both claws aiming to tear her apart. Vivian moved smoothly past it, dodging the first one before jumping the second one entirely.

She hopped onto a broken slab of concrete, balancing on it before charging straight at the Crawler before it could recover, delivering a slash into its arm with her knife.

[Damage Invalid.]

The message appeared faintly near the monster’s body, visible even from where Deon was slumped against the tree.

"Why does that mean—?" Hana asked, mostly to herself.

"Tch..." Vivian clicked her tongue before backing off and creating distance between them.

That’s right...the challenge. I’m the only one that can damage the Boss.

Another [Damage Invalid] flashed as she threw a rusted metal rod into the cracked armor near its neck. The rod struck, then bounced away as if the monster had been covered by an invisible barrier.

"The Flag!" he yelled.

Vivian replied between breaths. "What?!"

"What happened to the Flag?!"

"Really?" she called back. "That’s what you’re worried about right now?"

"Answer the question!"

The Brute Crawler slammed a claw into the stone lantern, shattering it into pieces. Vivian rolled out from behind it, her boots skidding across the mud before she landed in a crouch.

"Relax," she said. "I dealt with the monsters already!"

"...You what?"

"The Flag is fine. Nami is fine. So I figured my adorable little brother might need some help."

Deon stared at Vivian as she slipped past another claw, daggers slashing uselessly against the invisible barrier.

Everything was because of me. Ryker’s gone because I sent him there, and Nami was injured for the same reason.

Mina and Hana were doing their best, and even Jin, the freaking kid, had pulled his weight.

So what the hell was I doing? It’s because of me...because of my arrogance that everything’s happening. I thought I was getting used to the Miracle Royale. I really thought...I could win it all.

His fingers dug into the mud before letting out a soft laugh.

Ha...what are you even saying, Deon? Since when did you get so sentimental? The answer is right in front of you all this time.

He pushed himself up straight, even at Hana’s dismay, before looking to the edge of his vision where the chat panel was. Messages blurred past one another, but this time he was looking for a specific name.

If I started this, then I’m going to finish it.

"Hey, Bargain," he muttered, staring at the [Boss]. "Let’s make another deal."

[LovesAGoodBargain: Oh?]

Hana’s grip tightened around his shoulder. "Deon...what are you doing?"

Vivian flipped backward as the Brute Crawler’s claw tore through the ground in front of her. She landed badly, her ankles twisting in an awkward position but still managed to roll away.

Deon forced himself to focus on the chat, even though every instinct in his body screamed that he should be helping instead.

His arm moved to his back pocket, confirming that the crucial ingredient to his plan was there. When he finally felt it...the singular Card gave him all the confidence he needed.

"You like bargains?" Deon exclaimed. "Let’s do another one."

[LovesAGoodBargain: I’m listening.]

"I’ll one-shot it."

...

[ClownWithWifi: ONE ATTACK??? BRO CAN BARELY STAND]

[ChairGoblin_22: absolutely cooked. insane. no chance.]

[RandomToastEnjoyer: wait wait wait let him cook]

[AuraMonster: Magnificent! Bravo!]

Deon spat blood into the mud and wiped his mouth with the back of his left hand. All but Bargain’s name came up in his chat as it scrolled rapidly from all the Viewer’s reactions.

But finally—

[LovesAGoodBargain: Name your terms.]

"If I one-shot the Boss, you match every Point I earned from this Stage."

Hana’s eyes widened beside him. "Deon—"

"Every Hound. Every Infantry. Every bonus from this Boss. Everything I gained since this Stage started. You match it."

The chat went wild again, messages stacking over one another so quickly Deon couldn’t read half of them.

[LovesAGoodBargain: And if you fail?]

Deon already knew the answer. That was the whole point.

A bargain without risk was just charity, and people like Bargain himself didn’t watch the game to hand out charity. They wanted a spectacle.

So Deon gave them exactly that.

"If I fail," he said, "I forfeit every Point I gained from this Stage."

He could practically hear the bastard smiling from beyond the screen.

[LovesAGoodBargain: Tempting, but incomplete. Those are Points you have not secured yet. A true bargain requires something already in your possession.]

Greedy bastard.

But Deon had expected it too, eyes flicking at his current remaining Points.

[Current Points: 34]

Thirty-four Points that could become another Level later or another Card. Any Point he had was leverage over someone else.

"Fine."

"If I fail, I forfeit every Point I gained from this Stage...and you can take my current Points too." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

A translucent blue panel snapped open in front of him before the chat could even respond.

[Challenge Drafted]

[Requester: Contestant Deon Day]

[Recipient: Viewer LovesAGoodBargain]

[Challenge: The contestant, Deon Day, must destroy the [Boss] with one single attack.]

[Success Reward: Viewer [LovesAGoodBargain] will match all Points earned by Contestant Deon Day during this Stage.]

[Failure Penalty: Contestant Deon Day will forfeit all Points earned during this Stage and all current held Points.]

[Accept?]

For a moment, the world seemed to slow and compress into a single tiny blue panel.

Hana’s voice came out small. "Deon, please...it’s not worth it."

Her face was pale, eyes wet and furious at the same time, like she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to beat him up further or heal him for even thinking about this.

"Don’t make that face."

"This isn’t funny."

"I know."

"Then why are you smiling?"

Because if he stopped smiling now, he might actually understand how scared he was.

[Deal Accepted.]

The panel shattered into gold light. And somewhere beyond all of this, even beyond the sky, where impossible Viewers watched from somewhere unreachable—

A certain being typed a message.

[Then show me a miracle, Deon Day.]

His grin grew even wider.

"Gladly."