The runic board flashed open, casting a harsh blue glow across the blood-slick floor, highlighting the players weary faces.

[Round 4 begins.]

[Challenge: Rain of Arrows]

[Use of any shields are permitted.]

[Protecting a non-group member is instant elimination]

A deep, grinding rumble shook the chamber.

The four walls split open with the sound of stone tearing.

Hundreds of arrow slots emerged from the darkness, mechanisms clicking and whirring as bolts slid into place.

The air grew heavy, thick with scent of blood.

Every survivor felt the shift in pressure, the sudden knowledge that death now pointed at them from every direction.

[Protect your prophesied player for 5 minutes]

[Reminder: If a group’s prophesied player dies during the challenge, the entire group will be eliminated.]

[You have 10 seconds to prepare.]

"Shit!" Screamed someone from group C.

Helena quickly grabbed Kieran by the wrist and pulled her into the center of their remaining group.

"Stay close to me," she ordered, voice tight.

Kieran nodded.

The red-haired lady dropped to one knee, palms pressing hard against the cold stone, and released her slime.

Shiny blue gloop poured out, rising and curving upward until it formed a thick, glistening dome rooted deep into the floor.

The surface flexed under her hands as she reinforced every anchor point. "No one leaves this shield!"

Kieran trembled behind her. "H-Helena, I—"

"Shut up and crouch!" Helena snapped.

Standing beside her, Eli glanced at the dome, then at Fei Ming across the chamber. "You’re still doing it, aren’t you?"

Helena kept her palms pressed to the dome, adjusting its thickness as the first tension built in her arms. "Yes. Even if three more die. Even if one of them is me. We exhaust his final wrath trigger. Then he dies in the next vote."

Eli’s fingers dug in. "Helena. You’re young. Let’s think this through. Human life is valuable. I don’t wish for any of my students to die. I will figure out another loophole. Just—"

"It didn’t work!" she snapped, cutting him off. "Your loophole idea won’t work."

With gritted teeth, Helena continued, pointing at Fei Ming who stood with his team. "He kills people, Eli. You have no idea what danger he can cause, and if I don’t stop him in the next voting phase, he will kill more people."

The older man’s eyes softened. He understood her. In this world, even kids were forced to grow up and make hard decisions.

In an attempt to change her mind, Eli responded. "What if you die? No one wants to die, not like this. Helena—"

"If I die for him to die, I’ll accept my fate just as it is," she replied.

Then the first wave released.

Arrows whistled from the north walll.

"Incoming!" a voice shouted.

Players ran to hide.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Bolts slammed into the flesh and floor.

A man screamed as an arrow tore through his thigh. "My leg! Fuck—help me!"

More waves followed from east, west, and south.

The chamber filled with constant echoes of wails.

Players shoved and ducked, colliding into one another.

"Get down!" "Cover me!" A woman shrieked as two arrows buried themselves in her chest.

"No—please! Someone—anyone!" She collapsed, fingers clawing weakly at the shafts.

Nobody helped her.

However, Fei Ming remained near the center, eyes locked on Helena’s dome. He had duplicated 10 polearm blades, shielding him from incoming arrows.

He watched how she always placed herself between the arrows and Kieran, hands never leaving the slime.

This told him everything he needed to know.

His deductions were right. Kieran was their group’s prophesied player.

As the assault intensified, crossfire erupted. More arrows flew from multiple directions at once.

Screams rose and overlapped.

A player nearby begged in a breaking voice, "I don’t want to die... please, not like this..."

In Group B, Olive wove threads through the air, creating a hasty screen to block the arrows.

"Keres—stay behind it!"

Arrows thudded heavily into the threads.

Exhaling sharply and puffing his cheeks, Keres obeyed him anyway. Unfortunately, he wasn’t blessed nor gifted with any defensive skills. He had to rely on the person he disliked.

Still, Olive offered nothing else, his focus narrowed entirely on defense.

His gaze jumped to the space where Fei Ming had been standing.

It was empty.

[Time remaining: 00:02:12]

Dread coiled in his stomach. "Where the hell did he go?!" He spun around, searching the chaos, while arrows hissed past his head and struck the stone at his feet.

There, he saw him. "Fateless!"

Fei Ming was walking straight into the densest part of the barrage. Arrows cut the air around him, however, before it struck him, they stopped mid-air and fall to the ground.

He stopped in front of Helena’s shield, dropped low, and slashed through the slime roots anchoring the dome to the floor.

The entire structure wobbled and began to collapse inward.

Helena’s head snapped up. "No!"

Slime ran down Helena’s arms as she slammed fresh gloop into the cracks. The dome cracked, and Fei Ming’s blade speared and tore through.

He ripped the hole wide and shoved his arm in.

"No—no—no! Stop it!!!" Helens screamed even more.

Grabbing Kieran by the arm, he dragged her screaming into the open.

[Time remaining: 00:01:28]

"Let go! Please! Let me go!" The girl’s voice cracked with raw terror.

Helena lunged after her. "Kieran!"

Arrows whistled in again.

Still struggling with Fei Ming, Kieran elbowed him many times, but he didn’t bulge.

"Let. Me. Go!"

Fateless let her loose. And shoved her into the incoming wave.

Multiple bolts struck her in the chest.

She jerked violently, a choked gurgle escaping her lips before her body crumpled to the stone.

The runic board flashed.

[Group A has failed to protect their prophesied player.]

[Penalty: death.]

The walls split wider. A merciless storm of arrows rained down on the remnants of Group A.

Eli roared in pain as shafts tore through his torso. "Helena—!" His voice cut off as an arrow pierced his throat.

Teammates screamed. one after another, they collapsed in the relentless downpour.

Helena staggered forward, arrows gouged deep into her side and shoulder.

Hot blood soaked through her clothes instantly. The searing pain flared with every breath she took.

Dropping to one knee, fingers slipping on the bloody stone, she met Fei Ming across the chaos.

He stood perfectly still, watching her with that small, detached smile she always hated.

"How did you—" she rasped out.

Fateless took a longer look at her, watching the way blood ooze from her wounds. His eyes darkened as he said, "I know you, Neon. Even more than you know yourself. Did you really think I’ll wait and watch as you plan my demise?"

Her bow clattered from her weakening grip.

The chamber tilted, and her vision blurred.

In her last moments, all she could see was his face and the quiet satisfaction there.

Then everything went dark.

Round four finally ended.

The voting phase came and went.

Players nervously looked between one another and the fresh corpses.

No votes were cast.

The fear of another wrath event paralyzed every one. They already lost so much.

The phase passed untouched.

[Round 5 begins.]

The final challenge dragged longer under the weight of exhaustion.

Luckily, the threat wasn’t much since the stakes had been reduced.

Round five finally concluded.

The runic board appeared for the last time.

[Unfortunately, the true prophesied player survives.]

[The game shall continue.]

[No prizes will be shared between opposing teams.]

[Congratulations to Group B for their team effort!]

Xia let out a sharp, bitter scoff. "What team effort?"

Fei Ming received his prizes.

[Prizes won: a small box of tissues.

several cat toys.]

He blankly stared at the system screen.

Why does he never receive any worthy gifts. They were either scraps or more scraps.

He was used to it anyway.

Fateless’ mind drifted to something else. He had caused at least 70% of the deaths that occurred. Without his intervention, Helena’s group may have survived.

If he also hadn’t purposely revealed himself as the true prophesied player and triggered the Wrath event, six players may not have died.

So he walked into the midst of corpses.

A few survivors watched him warily. No one dared to talk, the others who could were deeply sucked into their own bubble, staring only at the gore on the floor.

Face streaked with blood, he raised his hand out.

[Do You Wish To Absorb Cores?]

"Yes."

Whitish spheres rose from a number of bodies, liquid and glowing, flowing toward him.

They merged into one compressed sphere.

Opening his mouth, Fei Ming consumed it.

The sphere dissolved down his throat.

[Cores Absorbed: 46]

[Absorb More Cores To Reach The Second Equivalent!]

Delighted, he licked his lips, savouring the sweet taste lingering in his tongue.

Others watched him in shock. But Misfortune only smiled. "My mission wasn’t a failure after all."

[Current Players: 11]

[Oh. We have new visitors!]

The Runic board loaded up with new numbers.

[Current Players: 15]

New footsteps echoed from the entrance, and four figures in Hawk uniforms walked into the chamber.

A brown-haired young man led them.

His slowly scanned the mountain of corpses, taking in the blood, the twisted limbs, the silence. "What the hell happened?" he exclaimed.

His breathing grew uneven. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.

The other three officers froze, faces pale as one of them pressed a hand over his mouth.

The brown-haired young man—Jaren— took a slow step forward, splashing through pooled blood.

Shoulders trembling, the muscles along his jaw stood out as he fought to keep control.

His gaze finally locked onto Fei Ming. The obvious culprit beautified by the suggestive art only he loved.

"Did you do this?" Jaren rasped. Then his voice rose, cracking with raw fury. "All of them... Did you do this?!"

Fei Ming turned to face the newcomers fully. "State your purpose." His voice was terrifyingly deep; the arrows stuck in the walls rattled.

The question broke something inside Jaren. His face contorted.

Golden electricity sparked around his hands as a sword formed in his grip, crackling with power.

He knew this face. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"YOU—YOU MURDERER!" Jaren roared, the words shredded his voice. He launched himself forward, closing the distance between the killer who murdered the person he cared about.