March 30th.

Until April 1st, classes were suspended, however, this only applied to class F which is isolated in block F of the entirety of the school as a whole. That lonely building that consists of four floors in a squared shape was authentically deserted.

As for the students in F class, some were glad that they didn't have to attend classes, but the one thing they were mostly looking forward to would be the fact that it was the last day of the month. This meant that, under surveillance, they could venture outside. Their journey would be somewhat shackled and they were under constant watching through GPS tracking. At the first signal of violence or criminal behavior in general, they would be expelled from the program which would effectively put them under execution range.

Therefore, many of them were starting to venture outside---and as such, physical movement within the dorms could be heard, because it was that golden day.

Even if one of their classmates had just ended her own life, not many were actually affected by it, except a few.

For those that were harmed by this; this day wasn't just like any other.

Daniel knew this, as he sunk deeply into a depressive state, in his bedroom. His plain room, unknown to solar light due to the fact that his windows are permanently closed, was in a permanent state of darkness. From time to time, Daniel would hear voices from his fellow classmates, mainly the male ones. There were a few female voices that had managed to enter the male room just to offer some consultation, but Daniel remained unresponsive.

His room's door is locked and the dorm's guard, George Kentucky, refused to open his door without his consent.

Over some time now, Daniel had been staring into his dark ceiling, motionless, only with his boxers on. His tears are dry to the point where he can't cry even if he wants to.

As morning rose to full height, Daniel heard a simple one-time knock and a voice from the outside of it; which caught his attention somewhat but not to the point of making him get up immediately.

"There's no one with me." He simply said and then sighed "Let me in, I got something important to say to you." Hyunda said words that Daniel had already heard before, but chose a particular subsequent set of words next "It's about Yulia." Daniel's eyes widened and he got up, albeit feeling slightly physically weak.

In a hurry, Daniel dressed some black pants, put on a black sleeveless t-shirt, went to his doorlock, and opened the door slightly.

"What is it...?" Visible tiredness could be seen from the way Daniel was speaking through the doorlock, just showing his face somewhat to Hyunda "Let me in. I have information that I don't want others to potentially hear..." Hyunda told Daniel and after two seconds, Daniel withdrew his skepticism and opened the door for Hyunda to walk in.

Quickly, Daniel closed the door meanwhile Hyunda opened the lights by pressing the light switch on the left side of the room.

"Or do you prefer daylight?" Hyunda asked "Wait, I'll open the blinds a b---" Daniel intervened "It doesn't matter... Just close it." Daniel said and Hyunda closed the lights.

There was some luminosity in the room because Hyunda raised the blinds just the bare minimum to the point where the light could somewhat infiltrate the room. It was enough for Daniel to see Hyunda in his usual clothes which consisted of a pair of yellow/orange Nike shoes, white pants, and a jockey jacket submerged with red and white colors---a black shirt underneath.

Daniel sat on the center of his messy bed and Hyunda took a seat on the desk's chair which mirrored Daniel's position.

"Here." Hyunda tossed a red apple to Daniel "I'm not hungry, Hyunda." Daniel said "You haven't eaten anything in like a day, Daniel. Don't give me that. You plan on starving yourself out?" Hyunda asked Daniel with a serious gaze "And if I am? What is there to it?" Daniel was also serious.

A brief silence hit the room with the two of them staring at each other.

Hyunda scratched the back of his spiky crescent white hair with his eyes closed and then sighed.

"So that's it? You're going to kill yourself too?" Hyunda took out an onion from his jacket's right pocket and began indulging "I can't handle this, Hyunda. I grew too attached to her. It doesn't matter what you say to me anymore, I got too deep into it. I'm sorry, but yeah, this is the end of the line." Daniel tossed the apple back to Hyunda, to which he grabbed it with his left hand and placed it on the desk.

A phone ring came from Hyunda's pants' right pocket. He took out his phone and saw who it was.

"Go and have fun, Hyunda. It's a once-in-a-month thing. The school's dull as hell, some variety is nice to the syst------" Hyunda put his onion on the desk and with his two hands, broke his phone entirely "......Huh." Daniel remarked as Hyunda placed the bits of his shattered phone on the desk and went back to eating his onion "Annoying bitch. I'll butcher her someday with my own hands." Hyunda grew impatient as he took a bite out of his onion with his right hand.

Another instance of silence hit the room.

"...You're not going?" Daniel asked "Who? Me? Nope. I have other plans for today. Gotta stick to them." Hyunda took a spin in the desk's chair repetitively "Like what?" Curious of course, Daniel asked "I need to tell you some important things, Daniel, you see." Hyunda stopped spinning and faced Daniel again, taking a bite out of his half-eaten onion "Go ahead, tell me. I don't want to waste your time, Hyunda." Daniel gave the heads-up to Hyunda.

And as such, Hyunda tossed the apple back to Daniel.

"Eat, we will talk then." Hyunda remained adamant about Daniel eating something "....." Daniel looked at Hyunda skeptically "There are better and more effective ways to kill yourself, Daniel. Eat the fucking apple, will you?" Hyunda somewhat raised his voice tone "Will you tell me the information about Yulia if I do?" Daniel wanted to make sure that he was getting something out of it "Yeah." Hyunda didn't bother to deny it "......." Daniel then looked at the red apple and decided to eat it as fast as he could.

He ended up choking too hard on the apple while eating, to which Hyunda responded by getting up from the chair and tapping Daniel's back a few times.

"Idiot." Hyunda insulted Daniel "Agh....." Some saliva was all over Daniel's lips and Hyunda used the bed sheets to clean it up for Daniel "Give me that." Hyunda demanded Daniel to give the entirely eaten apple to him "..." Daniel gave it as he coughed a bit more and Hyunda put the remaining bits in the trash can on the right southwest corner of Daniel's room.

Back to the desk chair, Hyunda ate the last bit of his onion and began to speak to Daniel.

"They're not going to hold a funeral." Hyunda delivered the information that would make Daniel mad instantly "WHAT?! HOW COULD THEY?!" Daniel erupted his posture in a feat of rage "Dunno. I asked our teacher Basara about it, and he said that given the nature of ourselves, we simply aren't taken into such consideration. In other words, because we are criminals, should we die, there won't be a funeral. Also, I'm fairly certain they have taken her body somewhere we don't know. Retrieving her body is beyond impossible, I'm afraid." Hyunda said information that was controversial and even questionable to say at least to Daniel.

Twitching in rage, Daniel was being observed by Hyunda.

"Motherfuckers...!! How could they not even hold a fucking funeral?! She was a human being, damn it...!!" Feeling powerless, Daniel wanted to cry again "It's useless. No matter how you look at it, you can't convince them. But more importantly, say, Daniel..." Hyunda wanted to ask something serious to Daniel and so, he waited until Daniel looked at him "Would you do anything to have her back?" Hyunda tilted his posture forward and looked at Daniel with his white wide open dead-serious eyes.

Stunned and unsure how to even begin to formulate an answer to that question, Daniel took three seconds to answer.

"Dude, I am not in the fucking mood for one of your sick twisted fucking jokes, Hyunda..." Daniel's veins twitched as he put on a killer's face "Good to know. Now, answer the question." Hyunda didn't back down which further confused Daniel "Yeah. Anything. There, happy?" Unable to understand Hyunda's question, Daniel sighed in hopelessness "Great." Hyunda simply said.

Silence hit the room once again, and Daniel felt the urge to speak to Hyunda, somewhat revolted.

"What was that?" He asked "What do you mean?" Hyunda answered, now with his posture leaned back into the chair "You just asked me if I would do anything to have her back, like what was the purpose of that question? Are you mocking me?" Daniel felt instigated and Hyunda clarified "No, I just needed to know if you had the resolve." Hyunda, once again, spoke a sentence that would provoke the question "Resolve for what?" Daniel couldn't help but ask.

Hyunda took a deep breath and then went to his wallet on the backside of his white pants.

There, he took out four different ID cards.

He gave one to Daniel, who was brutally perplexed by what he was even supposed to draw from this.

"This is your ID. Hajime Hyunda. Yeah, what about it?" Daniel gave back Hyunda's ID card and Hyunda gave him another ID card "This looks old... Ted Bundy? Wait, I know this guy. What the hell? You have his ID? Nah, you simply replicated it. Why though?" Daniel was given another ID card by Hyunda "Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin? Okay, now you're being ridiculous!" Daniel laughed and then Hyunda handed him the last ID card "Osama... Bin Laden...?" Daniel was mildly stunned for a bit.

Hyunda retrieved the last ID card and then put them all on the desk table for Daniel to see.

"Here is a pop quiz. If, chronologically speaking, I could be any of them, which one would I possibly be?" Hyunda made Daniel get up as he went to the desk "That's a pretty absurd question... Obviously, theoretically speaking, in order for you to be one of them, it would have to be outside of the life span of another one." Daniel was grasping something key here "For example..." Daniel grabbed Hyunda's ID card and Osama Bin Laden's and compared them "You couldn't have been Bin Laden because you were born on December 7th, 2004. Bin Laden died on May 2nd, 2011." Daniel deducted.

Hyunda didn't say anything and allowed Daniel to continue.

"Stalin died on March 5th, 1953. There is an absurd year difference between his death date and your birth date. So I suppose, since your timelines don't collide, it's a possibility." Daniel then grabbed Ted Bundy's ID and made a small thesis "Bundy died on January 24th, 1989, the year difference between his death and your birth date is fifteen years, so if I had to guess, Bundy would be the person who you were." Daniel finalized his speech but said something in addition as he put down Ted Bundy's card "But what's the point of that ridiculous question? We both know that you are Hajime Hyunda. You weren't any of them, as far as you know. We don't have knowledge about our past lives if there is such a concept." Daniel went back to his bed, a bit less depressed now and laid back.

Hyunda remained silent for a while and then, after collecting all of the ID cards, confessed something.

"Those are all me, Daniel." Hyunda said and then continued "At some point in their lives, I was able to modulate by consciousness by linking with my ID and Soul, thanks to the leader's help. Through that process, I was able to take control of three ordinary people's lives and made them historical figures." Hyunda didn't show any signs of stopping "Wh---" And so he went on, despite Daniel wanting to speak up "I didn't always remain in them, but I was the one who essentially performed all their infamous acts. I created the Gulag, I allowed the Soviet Union to starve from 1932 all the way to 1933 and yet again later, from 1946 to 1947. Not to mention the Katyn massacre; now that was hard to forget." Hyunda laughed as Daniel formed a silence "I was the one who raped and feasted on the bodies of multiple girls as Ted Bundy; but once my consciousness was modulated out and he was asked about his crimes, he had no choice but to deny it, because he really had no idea what had happened, even though he vividly remembered everything. Years later, I went back and confessed the crimes in other for me to be notoriously famous." Hyunda confessed.

Cracking his knuckles fingers, Hyunda said one last bit.

"But I wanted to do something more extreme. Something that was clearly evil and beyond repair. In May 2008, the leader transferred my consciousness into Bin Laden's brain via the same process of the ID and Soul, and I firmly took hold of Osama Bin Laden's identity. I was the one who orchestrated the Twin Towers incident. Quickly after, I was modulated out of Osama Bin Laden's body and then someone from the organization put me in a four-year-old's body belonging to a boy named Hajime Hyunda." Hyunda finished at last.

Sighing over his extremely bland and complicated explanation nevertheless, Hyunda spoke to Daniel, who was unaware of whether or not this was all a joke.

"Hey, Daniel. I'm just joking!" Hyunda opened a smile and laughed "HAHAHA!!" He spun on the desk's chair and continued laughing until he thought it was alright to stop "The fuck... You're weird!" Daniel seriously said to Hyunda, to which, he got somewhat hurt "The hell? It was just a joke. I was just trying to brighten up your mood, Daniel. I'm your friend, so I thought about making a huge joke to brighten you up. And it somewhat worked." Hyunda spoke his intention to Daniel "............." Unsure of what to say due to what was just told to him, Daniel found it hard to speak.

Somehow, Daniel didn't think that was a joke at all. Even if, out of everyone alive on this planet, a grand majority would pass it as a joke---the fact that Hyunda's eyes were dead-serious, made Daniel say one simple question.

"That wasn't a joke, wasn't it?" Daniel's eyes opened wide and Hyunda's smile became wicked "There is an empty seat. Our organization is very selective with its members. Though we have a large number of our members, the selection trial is one made with a person like me---I'm a judge. I offer trials and if the person can finish the trials; the person is in." Hyunda spoke seriously "This is information I shouldn't tell you because you haven't given me your saying on whether or not you want to try out but... Our next exam will be conducted on a deserted island. However, that deserted island is actually one of our superbases in the making. Almost a century was put into building it and trillions; possibly far more, was put into it." The details were now passed on to Daniel.

Feeling like he wasn't giving enough information, despite not necessarily needing to give it, Hyunda offered more words.

"I will say something very obvious by now: this entire program, although funded by various economic sources, its ownership lies within one source. You were told that the government is endorsing this program to counterattack criminality all over the world, but haven't you noticed how lackluster it truly is? How easily it can be swindled? That's not a coincidence, Daniel. That's all I can say." Hyunda said "What does that mean?! I thought the Japanese government was the one in control of the program. Also, all over the world? So there is more?!" Daniel fired a barrage of questions at Hyunda, to which, he shrugged "Figure it out by yourself, Daniel. Anyway, I need to know, actually. Because the exam starts tomorrow. I want to know whether or not, you want to be a part of our organization." Hyunda got to the critical point.

Daniel leaned back even further and looked up at the semi-bright ceiling.

He took a deep inhale and then erupted his posture back up.

"How does all of this connect with Yulia? Unless you give me detailed information about how I can greatly benefit from this, I won't show further interest. I want evidence as well." Daniel made his cold demands, to which, Hyunda knew that this was the turning point, and as such, he spared no quarter "I can only give you absolute concrete evidence on the island. Do you want to wait or do you want to trust my words?" Hyunda offered the truth in the form of a question.

Knowing that he couldn't get the evidence right away, Daniel was about to withdraw his interest.

However, at the same time, he couldn't shake off the thought of Hyunda, somehow, being relatively serious. What would Hyunda gain from instigating this far---Daniel thought to himself yet he couldn't arrive at a plausible conclusion that would justify all this stretching.

"I'll listen for now." Daniel offered his consent and Hyunda took out another phone; this time a burner and started dialing a number "There is another member from the organization in our class." Hyunda put the burner on his right ear "It's Sagasuga." Hyunda told Daniel "Sagasuga?! Wait, you're serious?" Daniel asked, nervous "Yup. I'm calling him now---oh, hey man." Sagasuga picked up from the other side, but Hyunda asked something to Daniel first "Is it alright if he comes in? He knows a lot about what you want to know." Hyunda asked Daniel.

Daniel looked at Hyunda displeased and unhappy about this manipulation on his part.

"Fine... Just tell him to be here fast----" A door knocking immediately was heard "You're kidding me." Daniel looked at his door, which was locked "Nope." Hyunda said as Daniel went to check who it was on his door.

A simple unlocking revealed Sagasuga, who was wearing a white uniform shirt with a red tie in black uniform pants alongside stark novel black shoes.

"Hello." He simply said with a smile to Daniel "............" Daniel didn't bother to say anything back and allowed Sagasuga to walk into Daniel's minimally bright room.

Sagasuga looked at Hyunda for a bit and then asked something to Daniel.

"Can I have a seat?" Sagasuga pointed at the border right side of Daniel's bed "Sure." Daniel didn't deny it "Thank you." Sagasuga made himself at home and Hyunda took the lead as soon as Daniel got back to his bed's edge "He's a certified trialist, but he wants to know how exactly it is possible to do the process and just how it is possible." Hyunda explained to Sagasuga---who put his right hand on his chin "Hm..." He readied his speech as he looked at Daniel "Yulia?" He simply asked "...Yes." Daniel gave him the confirmation.

In order to give a more thorough and succinct explanation to Daniel, Sagasuga pulled out a digital gadget in the form of a modern phone and what unraveled was a gadget that could split itself into two, so Sagasuga used one half while pointing the other half to the white wall.

"What the..." As Daniel looked at the wall, he saw a video being played "This is a representation of how a person's body or just a simple blood sample is one of the many factors to enhance our rebirth process! This isn't something that is made to bring someone dead back to life---no, this is about creating particles from a dead person and putting that person's entirety into a new, similar body!" The lady in the video explained as she extracted a blood sample through a syringe from the dead body on the autopsy table "She's so unnecessarily cheerful about it, what a psycho." Hyunda commented "She's got her own flare into it." Sagasuga gave a compliment instead.

Right now, Daniel's vision is occupied with watching a video clip of one of the organization's members as she extracts blood from a dead person's body; which is a male's body.

The girl in the video, who has semi-long black hair that is split into six tails that go down; each upholding a light ball where the end of each hair's tail remains, continued to explain.

By grasping an orange tube from the machine on the left side of the body; she performed the next movement by impaling the frontal side of the body's skull.

"Now that the blood itself is extracted, we need to gather more components. There isn't necessarily an order to this---all you need is to make sure that you gather the fundamental components! Like, for example, the soul!" She tucked out the orange tube from the dead body's brain and poured the orange liquid onto a small flask alongside a flask containing the body's blood "God, she's sloppy." Hyunda once again commented "And now..." She continued to perform the task, to which Daniel was paying a lot of attention, but Sagasuga decided to pause the video.

He looked at Daniel while facepalming a bit.

"This is an outdated demonstration because it's necessary for there to be a double blood extraction here. From a dead body and a live body. However, it can't be from two people who aren't the ones that you intend to use the process on. For example, if we are talking about Yulia, given that she's not alive anymore, there has to be an extraction of her dead body's blood. Naturally, there has to be an extraction from a live body. It should be mentioned Daniel, that in this process, having two people from the same gender, will greatly benefit the process because the compatibility will be higher." Sagasuga finished and went back to playing the video.

Daniel wanted to complain about how Yulia's body was out of his reach and that extracting her blood was something that he had no idea how was done, but he thought that there had to be a core reason as to why Hyunda and Sagasuga were demonstrating all of this, knowing that very well.

"Now, one of the most crucial components to extract is the ID! The ID is something that has to be mixed with the blood and soul liquids!" The girl took a soul liquid flask and poured a bit of the liquid into an empty flask and then poured a bit of the blood flask "And now we do a little bit of mixture...!!" She sounded overly excited about the process "Done! That's how you obtain the ID liquid! But wait because we are not done here!" She takes ahold of the ID flask "Since we have managed to obtain the ID, we need to actually mixture the ID liquid with the soul liquid!" She explained.

After a mixture of the vermillion liquid, which was the color of the ID alongside the soul liquid, which was orange---a bright liquid with a fading gray color was created.

"This is the Ego liquid! Very crucial if you want the person to have a sense of identity!" Daniel's eyes widened and Sagasuga paused "Daniel, by now, you should notice that in order to get this far into the process, the two absolutely necessary components are---" Daniel interrupted Sagasuga "The person's blood---regardless of alive or dead---if dead, then a live body's blood; preferably from the same gender due to a higher ratio of compatibility and ultimately by then, you can extract the soul liquid with that tube and the rest can be mixtured." Daniel, so focused on the screen, could not spare a glance at Sagasuga nor Hyunda "You missed something here, Daniel." Hyunda called Daniel out "Huh?" Hyunda laughed a bit at his aloofness "She doesn't explain it, but the blood that is from the live body should only be extracted if the person who is alive has the thought, the will, to allow someone else to be born through this process." Hyunda spoke words that didn't make sense to Daniel.

Sagasuga figured that Daniel should continue to watch instead of paying attention to Hyunda's examples.

"There are a lot more processes into the rebirth program, but as long as you have all these components here..." The girl in a white long laboratory type of gown pointed at the five components that had been created "There is no body on this planet that can't be recreated if you have these components!" Sagasuga added something to the explanation to Daniel "You can see that there are five flasks; the first two are the dead body's blood and the live body's blood. Before we kill our test subjects, we extract their live blood, Daniel." Sagasuga allowed Daniel to continue watching "And now, we will finalize the process by----" Hyunda got up and gave an order to Sagasuga "Stop. That's enough." He demanded the video to be halted.

Sagasuga exited the video and united his gadget once again; placing it back into his right pocket.

"Wait, why did we stop?! I need to know the results! Let me see how the transformation is done!" Daniel immediately complained but Hyunda and Sagasuga had a say in the matter.

Hyunda went first.

"Daniel, any further and we are entering very sensitive territory. So far, this is all speculation. You have not seen definite proof." Daniel argued against his point "Wasn't the point to give me proof so I can pledge my loyalty to the trials?!" Hyunda corrected him "No, it was not. This is a sneak peek. If you do decide to join the trials, you will learn more. Think of this as a tutorial. You have your free walkthrough but now it's over. And now the screenplay is asking you: Do you wish to continue?" Hyunda put it in a way that was easy for anyone to understand.

Feeling as if Hyunda was a bit too harsh and direct, Sagasuga decided to speak in his own manner of speech.

"Can I say something?" Sagasuga asked Daniel's permission to speak "........" He didn't say anything though he looked at Sagasuga as if to say "Go ahead" "It may sound suspicious and anyone, at first, grows skeptical about it since we are talking about something that is highly unlikely, but, I think there is a lot for you in this. Should you succeed in the trials and enter the organization, you will start at the lower ranking, which is F." Hyunda looked at Sagasuga "Why not? The more he knows the better, right?" Sagasuga said that to Hyunda to which, Hyunda shrugged "Your ranking is determined by how many missions you have taken on successfully. Needless to say, but, if you do extremely well in the entrance trials, you may obtain some alluring rewards for your hard work. Like, for example..." Sagasuga looked deeply into Daniel.

A stormy wind outside passed through momentarily in short transience.

"A session with the leader could prove to be highly beneficial if you ever plan on retrieving Yulia's body..." Daniel got up and locked his two hands on Sagasuga's shoulders "You mean it?! You're not just saying that?! I can get her body back in order to extract her blood?! As long as I get a session with the leader...?!" Exulted, smiling while desperate, Daniel applied force to Sagasuga's shoulders, but he didn't seem to mind the physical agitation "Of course. However... The leader is only interested in those that excel at missions... If you fail the trials then..." Hyunda finished the phrase for Sagasuga "Then you can ever forget about trying to bring her back, Daniel." He closed his eyes as he delivered the truth to Daniel.

Uniting his needs with his newfound goal, Daniel didn't hesitate to say his true thoughts on the matter, to Hyunda and Sagasuga.

"I'll do it. I'll do anything to get her back. No matter what they ask me to do, I will do it." Daniel affirmed with absolute unwavering confidence "There we go." Hyunda spoke out loud "Very nice. Once on the island, Hyunda will give you starting training for you to complete the trials. In one week, you will have to know, by memory, the full extent of the island and the hidden places of it." Sagasuga got up from the bed "Hidden places...?" Daniel grew skeptical as Sagasuga was leaving the room "Don't mind it, Daniel. If you put your mind to it, it's a walk in the park." Sagasuga said as he left the room "Later." He said to both Daniel and Hyunda.

Now alone with Hyunda, Daniel let out a small laugh as he flopped into his bed.

"...Seriously...? Holy shit, all this time, I..." Daniel was surprised by the fact that Hyunda and Sagasuga were hiding such secrets "My advice? Get as much sleep as you can and------Here." Hyunda tossed a silver pill case containing multiple pills "Xanax?" Daniel was already taking a few in order to fight his depression "A more potent version. I asked an acquaintance to give you a stronger version so you could perform better in the upcoming trials. They take about five minutes to kick in, but they only last one hour. If you take one, your mind will become authentically clear. You will feel like something akin to a God." Hyunda told Daniel "...Like a God...?" Interested, Daniel wanted to know more "Yeah. It will also help you concentrate and any unnecessary thoughts will be... dispelled, to say the least." Hyunda got up from the chair.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Without saying anything, Hyunda attempted to walk out of the room, but not before giving Daniel one last thing.

Tossing a syringe with an orange liquid inside; Hyunda gave Daniel something that he wasn't sure whether or not he should have given him.

"What's this...?" Daniel knew from first glance what color the liquid resembled "Inject it at the worst possible time. It's against the rules to offer more than what it's established, so don't ever let Sagasuga know about it." Leaving the room, Hyunda left it at that.

Speechless, Daniel looked at his two hands; in his left one, he had a capsule full of pills---about sixty to seventy---but on his right hand's open palm, he had a syringe filled with a mythical orange liquid.

He felt more confident than ever, and with a grin, he declared it to himself.

"Just you wait... No matter what it is, I will win...!" His eyes lit up a rekindling fire.

However, warping back into the present time---Daniel is lying on the ground while surrounded by four dead bodies.

Falling victim to a false death play, Daniel's right calf was bleeding out of control due to Jyouhara's deceitful stab. Furthermore, Daniel deducted that this was all orchestrated by Yoh as he figured that since Yoh would be Daniel's primal target---he would unconsciously place a lower priority on a nobody like Jyouhara.

"...Damn it...!!!!!" Gritting his teeth, Daniel tried to erupt his posture just a little back up "...AAGGHHH!! AHHHH...!!!" Feeling the absurd physical pain and strain from his right calf, Daniel noticed that he could barely walk and his levels of pain tolerance were obviously hindered.

A mortal reminder came to Daniel's mind as he, with all of his strength, though weak and somewhat depleted----went to his middle belt for a specific syringe.

"A-Ahhhh....!!" Having trouble grasping the syringe, Daniel couldn't properly hold it so the syringe fell on the ground "Oh for fuck's sake...!! Just calm down... Calm down, Daniel..." He tried to ignore the massive physical pain as he reached out to the fallen syringe on the right side of the area, slowly.

Slowly but surely, without applying too much pressure but nevertheless feeling like hell, Daniel was able to take possession of the syringe. Now lifting it up into the air, Daniel pierced his right leg's calf and went straight to the fibula head's core; which provoked a painful scream from Daniel.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!" With his nerves on fire and veins popping in his body suddenly, Daniel felt like he was going to die "DAMN.... IT...!!! JUST.... FUCKING.... HOLD IT....!!" In the hope of the liquid's effect kicking in soon, Daniel kept on emitting saliva mixed with dark blood from his mouth onto the ground as he greeted further "AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" But the pain didn't decrease; as a matter of fact, Daniel was feeling tremendously more in pain.

If Daniel previously, right before feeling the effect of the liquid kicking in, felt like he was going to die----then right now, just as his body is expelling as much saliva as it can; his skin so hot from the blood in turmoil from within----he felt like he was being stabbed by staggering spears all over his body. His vitals felt like the most fragile thing and his entire body was the equivalent of gelatine to him.

Midst all of his screams that resembled that of a horrified individual who was about to be face to face with death itself; via his nervous system---Daniel was able to hear a voice, now that the effect was kicking in.

This voice seemed somewhat robotic but it had a human organic feeling to Daniel.

An orange hologram manifested in front of Daniel first, and he started to see two feet walking forward just through his narrow vision.

"Tibia and Fibia bones--- highly damaged. Healing protocol cannot be engaged---please direct yourself to the nearest recovery station within the holy mountain of Vega. I know this might be painful, dear customer, but your injury is sustainable; at the cost of itself, however." A white female robot completely lacking in clothes whatsoever, spoke in Daniel's direction "W-Who are you?! Agh!!" Still in pain, Daniel asked nonetheless "Shit, am I hallucinating from all the pain?!" Daniel thought to himself.

Intercepting this particular brainwave, the robot, was quick to dismiss any misunderstandings.

"I am master Adam's guide; Euporia---though I exist in temporal realms through my voice alone, since you have inducted yourself with a soul liquid particle, I have gained form for only you to see me. Dear customer, Daniel Lead, understand this: your physical state is in great danger. Your entirety ever since you've injected yourself with the soul liquid has unleashed a toxic agent on your body." Daniel was mindblown by the news "W-What....?! Hyunda..." He started to despair "Fear not, dear customer Daniel Lead. The station is not far. Should you wish to live and evolve a stage further; as well as upholding massive advantage in the remaining of your journey to the end of the trials; I believe it would be wise to follow my track to the most nearby recovery station." Euporia stopped looking at Daniel and started to descend down the great spiral which would ultimately lead all the way below.

Crawling in despair; with red skin as his life barely hung on, Daniel had a lingering thought that always kept him going.

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The remaining sixteen girls, by now, through the mythical and surreal spiral staircase that contained about a hundred turnarounds, had finally arrived at the very bottom of the grand spiral stairway.

Greeted with a massive lack of light, they could only guide themselves through their phone's lanterns. However, most of them, if not all of them, were actually making a video about what they had just seen; from all the way to the beginning of the spiral stairway to where they are now.

"It appears that we have reached the destination! Remember, ever since we got here, we have been only going as down as we possibly can!" Rikuha spoke eagerly to the camera, but was terrified as she wandered in the darkness alongside her female classmates "Huh? Hey, what is that?" A girl from the party, upon stumbling on something, in the midst of the darkness, alerted the rest "What do you----GYAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Screams of horror were unleashed by multiple people present as all the flashing lights were aimed at a single conjunction.

Two male dead bodies who had suffered clearly brutal deaths, were on display on the cold ground. Clear grievous wounds inflicted and anguished faces were all the girls could see.

"That's Yoshi and Kokoni!" Lyku gasped as she felt horrified by that sight "That fucking psychopath has killed them, oh God! We need to hurry!!" Further panic was being created by the girls "HELLLOOOOOO?! IS ANYONE OUT THERE?!" Lulu, the holder of the ax; this section's component, with her phone recording all of this, let out that scream.

However, no answer came forward.

"You're kidding me... Just where are we supposed to go...!?" They started to panic a bit "Save it, will you?! We can't let their sacrifice be in vain! Spread out and find anything that indicates a way forward!" Lulu gave the general order and they shortly after came to a consensus.

With no guidance as a whole and out in the blind; hoping for some clue, the girls managed themselves via artificial light from their phones. Noticeably, they found a pile of bodies that they recognized since they were the ones that were tasked with the mission of stalling out for time earlier. Furthermore, there were some indications of a faint orange light below.

This faint glowing orange light was noted by Takahima, one of the girls in the group, as she looked at the ground and found a gigantic five-metered eye on the ground, horizontally, which was emitting an orange aura from it.

"What the..." Takahima, upon finding herself with two other girls, walking over the iris of an eye lying on the dark ground, alerted the rest by yelling "Everyone, come and take a look at this!" Many heard her "We are on the south side! Try to follow our voice!" This wasn't of much help, but it was enough for every one of them to be reunited on the south side of the unknown area, five minutes later.

Once together and with their lights focused, they captured the sight of a wide open eye on the ground with its retina covering about eighty-five of the center, but nevertheless, the eye itself contained a wide two meters in space in-between the retina and the corners of it, both from left to right.

There was noticeable orange glittering emitting from it, but it all got stronger the more they looked at the retina itself.

"Yoh said that if we followed the eye it would lead us to..." Kei reminded everyone of Yoh's words yet as of now, the retina remains at the very center; thus unlike most eyes they've encountered, it wasn't suggesting any direction whatsoever "Want to get into the center of it...?" Sabrina suggested albeit paranoid "No way... It's probably a bomb... Think about it..." Suggestions were made.

However, against the common fear in the atmosphere; while holding the ax, Lulu jumped off to the center just like a frail little girl who was forced to jump to a frozen pool in the middle of the cold winter.

"....!!!" Lulu noticed something midst the retina "It opened?! Wait, but it was just a bit!" Lulu made a comment in regard to how, for a split second, she felt that her body was being shaken.

This was due to the fact that when Lulu got on top of the retina, the circular oval figure of the retina, opened sideways albeit just very slightly.

"Wait, maybe it needs more people to open it...?" Higashima said to Lulu as she focused on recording everything that was happening, now that there was a radius of light "Let's try it, one at a time. I'll go with Kei and we'll see just how much it opens." Lulu and Kei, at the same time, hopped onto the retina meanwhile everyone else stayed back.

For over two seconds, the retina's center opened for about fifty centimeters wide and during that time, everyone focused their lights onto what was below.

Lulu and Kei, both on different sides of the retina, were united back again because after those two seconds, the retina went back to normal. Nonetheless, what they saw down there was a huge indicator.

"I saw it!" Loud and overjoyed opinions started to flourish "Guys, did you see that?!" Mainly speaking, they were also talking to the people who they hoped would see the video one day, respectfully "Stairs! It leads down below, just like a cave!! Quick, we need to all get on top of the retina!" Lulu immediately ordered all of them as she saw a way forward.

There was no doubt about it. What the girls just saw was the glimpse of an illuminated downward staircase that would go further down below and unlike this area; it was brimming with artificial light. And given that all they had to do was stay on the retina and hop onto the stairway below which is by all means not distant from the floor at all, they all went for it.

But...

"Oh... We don't all fit inside it?" About six girls couldn't fit inside the retina and as such, Lulu was somewhat forced to make a decision "It's alright! We'll go ahead first and after it closes, you guys do the same just like we did, how about it?" Lulu and the other eight girls now on the stairs below, talked to the six girls who were no longer in their vision "Alright, wait up then!" A cooperation was therefore made.

Feeling comfortable in the face of artificial light from the top ceiling of the cave----which is essentially a rocky cave with the resemblance of an enclosed mine site but on the top, after three meters, there are orange horizontal lights spread forward in order to give illumination----Lulu and the others looked into the linear path ahead of them and the sideway myriad of tubes that are emitting an orange liquid which is flowing through them to the end of the path as well.

"Huh? Why isn't it opening?!" A girl from the latter group, Jossie, complained that the same trick did not work "What do you mean?! Just get into the eye and it will open! Come on!" Lulu, not understanding Jossie's complaint, demanded her to hurry up "Damn it, I'm telling you, Lulu, it's not working!" Jossie got mad "Wait, maybe it's because you are holding the ax?" Higashima spoke out loud; everyone could hear her, even the ones above "What?" Lulu didn't connect the dots "That's it! That's why it's not working! The component has a power on the gimmicks in the area!" Calandra claimed.

Slightly wrong regardless, but being in the possession of the component itself is enough. There is no such necessity, just like some were claiming. However, it was a sufficient spark for them to know that the component wielder had been allocated to a place where she couldn't make her return to the top.

"I can't get up! The retina has closed! There must be a manual way to get to where we are!" Lulu offered a suggestion though nervous about the fact that they were technically trapped us stairs "Goddamn it! If only----" Jossie's speech was cut short after hearing something profoundly loud.

Jossie's screamed her life out as a machine gun firing erupted in the atmosphere, setting chaos onto everyone present above.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Screams of horror and lifepleading phrases were being made, as Lulu and the rest, had absolutely no idea what was going on, but one thing was clear "That was gunfire...!! He's here...!!!" Higashima, terrified, started to wet herself despite being on her foot, as well as placing her two hands on both of the sides of her shaking head.

Abandoning all hope in the face of agonizing screams that would be otherwise described as nightmare material; Lulu gave one order to the rest, out of her utter selfishness.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES AND LEAVE THEM TO DIE, WE MUST PLACE THE AX IN ITS PLACE!!" Lulu took the lead as the gunfire above went on "NOOOOOO!!! NO, PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU WA----" Another round of gunfire was opened; Lulu's group panicked as much as possible whilst recording everything in spite of that while running forward "Ohmygodohmygodohmygo----" One of the girls, Craylia, was speaking so fast, she accidentally bit her tongue "Can he get in here if they couldn't though?!" Kei raised a legit question "I don't know! I hope not, damn it! Oh God...!!!" Lulu gave her honest answer as they continued to run for it.

The fact that the gunfire sounds weren't as noisy as before but nevertheless noticeable, meant that they were indeed getting further away from the actual horror scene---in other words, despite running a linear path in a cave with no clear destination in mind due to a tremendous lack of territorial knowledge; they were making some progress.

"Why is this happening to us?! Who thought this was right?! We are innocent, aren't we?! We haven't done anything wrong to the point of deserving something as brutal as this, haven't we?!" Higashima began to vent while running; filming the whole horror escape though her phone's camera was unbalanced from all the moving "I knew we shouldn't have trusted Ryousuke Kawahara! They must've planned all of this together!! What the hell were we thinking?! Now we're going to die, ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Rikuha started to cry as well as spill snot from her nose due to her inner stress.

Mid all of this mental havoc; Lulu found up ahead, after traveling six hundred meters ahead---an eye on the ground that was placed on the ground, just like the rest of the other eyes. But this eye had its retina all the way to the right and it was also the indicator that there was another path to the right, but the path forward continued.

"The eye is pointing at the right, we have to go to the right!" Lulu stuck with the same plan as it has proven to be successful before and as such, they all crossed the intersection to the right side "Oh... my fucking..." Rikuha gasped right before entering the correct intersection.

A fading wry smile from afar, on the very end of the linear path they were just walking on, greeted them from afar.

"OH GOD, OH GOD, OH MY GOD!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Rikuha screamed out of her lungs and the others did not even bother questioning why, they simply knew "THE EYES! WE ARE AHEAD OF HIM FOR NOW, SO COME ON!" Lulu spouted the most optimistic thing she could hope for.

The liquid flowing through the sideline tubes indicated a large quantity of something that was being highly fabricated at the end of the line.

For over thirty seconds, they ran in sheer dread but then came a puzzle for them.

"You're kidding me! At a time like this! I don't have time for this!" Lulu panicked as she gripped the ax in her ax; while thinking about actually using it to kill the one that is instigating their progress "What do we do?!" All eyes were on Lulu as she had to figure out something right away.

Right now, they are facing a three-way path; but the most complicated thing is the fact that there are three eyes, and not just one, at the entrance of each of the three paths. Their retinas are fully on the north side which indicates that they must go forward.

However, the question is simply, which to follow. And in addition to that, what happens should this be a trap?

Lulu came up with a drastic "solution" to this conundrum.

"We are nine so... If we divide our numbers, we make three groups of three and hope for the best..." Lulu proposed but she was met with displease "Huuuuh?! A split?! You're not serious, are you, Lulu?!" Craylia disagreed with Lulu's decision but she held her ground "There is no time! He will go after one of us regardless, if we stay in a group, our chances of surviving are lower, Craylia!" Lulu knew she was essentially suggesting that one of the groups, therefore, at random, would be a scapegoat "FUCK YOU!" Craylia started to cry while moving her arms in an aggressive manner.

Then a short silence hit the atmosphere and in that transient moment, they could all hear a loud one-two footsteps from not so far away.

"...I'm so sorry... I was never prepared for this, so I'll just do this my way..." Lulu looked down on the floor, without facing any of her group mates "Huh?" They could not understand her words, but as soon as they saw Lulu, independently running away forward on her own, they knew what she was up to "I'M SORRY, BUT I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I'VE DONE WHAT I COULD!" Lulu began to physically strive even further as her group mates lagged behind still in shock "HEY! WAIT, WHAT ABOUT THE SPLIT?!" Still curious about that, Rikuha asked Lulu from afar, but no response came forward "...I'm going to the right side! He can't catch us all at once for sure!" Craylia, now resoluted into actually splitting firmly said.

Despite their initial fight, as Lulu was quick to make up her mind, they ultimately all decided to abandon Lulu. Lulu followed the central path and instead of any of them accompanying Lulu, they split each other into two groups of four. The right side path's group consisted of: Crylia, Takahima, Rikuha, and Lyku. As for the left side path's group, it was made of: Higashima, Sabrina, Kei, and Malava.

The nature of the three paths that had unknown destinations were all the same: the ground was covered in white steel but the walls were made out of at least twenty tubes on each side---the orange-colored liquid constantly flowing forward at an alarming speed and the top was covered with a triple row of artificial lights that allowed clear illumination; contrasting the prior atmosphere's. The air was fairly chilly but nothing too oppressive. There was, however, the noticeable noise that grew louder as they advanced though they knew not why.

Arriving late to the three-path intersection, Daniel was holding a mini-gun capable of firing at least four bullets per press, on both of his hands.

His black clothes, soaked in blood and even his own sweat made him stand out but there was no one in sight.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......" In pain still, with blood on his hands, literally as well as blood dripping down from the top of his head all the way to his face, Daniel looked at his right lower calf "It's so weird. My body and my brain---they can't keep up with it; it's clearly so advanced that it fucks up my rhythm!" Daniel complained about his new achievement through a necessary sacrifice "It immediately processes my subconscious indication of wanting to go forward and moves at least thrice as fast as my other leg..." He subconsciously wished to step forward with his right leg, but even before he was able to reach to the conclusion or the mid part of that thought alone, his leg was already forward "What the fuck?! Holy shit, hahaha!!" Daniel was losing time but he was enjoying this newfound feeling "What the hell is this?!?!!?" He was upholding a delirious behavior.

Aside from that, Daniel did try to remember something as he alternated in-between watching the three intersections.

He placed his right bloody palm while holding the minigun nevertheless, in the lower part of his face, in seemingly deep thought and then looked up, trying to remember it.

"That's weird. I can't remember it. I know for a fact that I've been here before because Hyunda told me to learn about the secret sections of the island, but I, for some reason, can't remember the way forward from here. This is a soul liquid fabric, that I know. I also know what lies beyond this, it's very clear in my head, but... for a while now, I'm having trouble remembering the simplest of things..." Daniel couldn't make sense out of why he was suddenly unable to remember it.

It was bugging him. Very much to the point where he knew that he should hurry up and get on with his mission, but he wanted to make some sort of sense out of the situation.

His newfound conclusion widened his eyes.

"It must be side-effects. I'm arguably able to process things a bit faster than I was before. If I had to put it, it's like I am able to skip the mid part of the comprehension part and simply absorb information and get to the end of it without having to digest it. But that goes against any sort of logical thinking though. Then, what does that make me?" Daniel came up with an answer "I am more advanced now; the liquid's particles have infused with my nerves and the subatomic particles are flourishing with regenerative properties! It's like I'm in the zone... However, as far as I can tell... I never knew all of those details, so how come I do now?" Daniel was taking quite the time with his self-monologue.

Eventually, he decided to resume his spree.

Pointing his right mini gun with his right hand firstly at the center, Daniel would alternate from right to left to left and then to the right and to the right; repeating this over and over as he sang a melody that he didn't know he could even sing it to begin with.

"Um-dó-li-tá, care de amendoá, um segredo colorido! Quem está livre, livre está; em cima do piano está um copo de veneno---quem bebeu more, o azar foi mesmo teu!" Daniel's minigun ended up placing on the left path's intersection's direction "Huuuuuuuuuuh?!" Daniel showed visible confusion to a high degree "How the fuck do I know that?! I don't even know what language that's from even, that's so weird!" Daniel subsequently laughed as well "Ahahah... Oh well; better not keep them waiting too much now." Daniel advanced.

By now, Higashima, Kei, Malava, and Sabrina had arrived at a new location. Through the end of the path, the way forward extended into a room in the shape of a pentagon. Its width was over a hundred meters and the height was of the same size too.

"What... the... HELL... IS THIS?!" Malava, horrified at the current scenario, puked on the spot.

This particular pentagon-shaped area was one of the breeding houses. Breeding houses are conjunctions of capsules that store human beings inside them. These capsules are on display on the top of the area's ceiling; they are hanging like eggs from a cocoon. In essence, they are unified by the orange liquid tubes that travel all the way to the capsules and endorse the liquid into the property of the test subjects. However, as far as it can be seen, the human beings labeled as test subjects, are all dead and could entirely be described as rotting corpses.

"They're dead! This is so wrong! What the hell are we looking at?! Up there, in those capsules, there are dead human beings stored up!" Kei forgot to mention how the human beings have all lost their respective youth and resemble centuries in age.

In theory, if a human being---a dead one---put in a machine that would enforce a process that would not allow the body to physically decay, it would nevertheless reach the appearance of someone whose body has lived on for that period exactly. So, if for example, there would be a human being stored in those capsules, whose body's age resembles at least two centuries; it would look like something akin to a skinified skeleton with just a thread of life somehow hanging due to the decay blockage.

It felt like they were watching a horror movie.

"Hey..." Higashima looked behind and acknowledged a particular sound and a humming melody being sung with a medium-toned voice from afar "Holy shit! Quick!" Kei alerted the rest of the three and ran to the right side of the area.

The ground area is covered with a myriad of electric control panels that require password entries; but since they are so many, they are useful in case someone needs to suddenly hide. That's why the four of them went behind the dark gray-colored panels that were five meters in height. They are all located and placed in a horizontal manner, which means that their front and back are significantly larger than the sides; thus making them good for hiding.

Breaths of anxiety; hands in their mouths just to make sure that no noise slips; watery tears bursting out of control; boggly eyes begging for mercy---and most importantly---steps.

A normal human step forward and another that is by far, faster and alienated from the rest.

"Because maybeeeeeeeeee..." Daniel, with his eyes closed, walked into the pentagon area "You're gonna be the one that saves meeeeeee...! And after alllllll; you're my wonderw------" He stopped humming once he looked into the hanging silver capsules from above; Higashima got on all four just so she could take a sneak peek at what Daniel looked like but most importantly, just where he was.

Without speaking, she saw Daniel with his back turned against the four of them and thus, she retreated back into her initial position after curling her posture.

Speaking very lowly, she talked to the other three though horrified and with a mental lump on her mind.

"W-W-W-We.......n-need to.... wait until he is out of... reach.... and then..... we turn back..... and...." Tears and constant body shivers were getting in the way of her speech but she nonetheless tried her best "...Then w-we run and reunite with the... others...." Essentially; now aware that their group was, against fortune and favorable odds, they had no choice but to try to escape from this madness.

Higashima saw Daniel with two miniguns earlier, so she is aware that facing him, is absolutely out of the question unless she intends to forfeit her life.

Going back to see where Daniel was now, Higashima curled in all fours again and attempted to get a read on his position.

"?!" He was nowhere in sight and this greatly haunted her.

But not as much as what would happen next; which would make the heartbeat of the four of them, increase to a staggering degree.

In a moment of silence, the lights in the area completely went out.

"OH GO---------" Kei blocked her speech with her own two hands as she realized that the noise could allow Daniel to get some sort of clue about her position.

At this point, whether they liked it or not, their sobbing and anxious inhaling was leaving a trail of noise. Combined four times, in the midst of pure silence, in a gigantic pentagon-shaped area; it wouldn't be impossible to track it.

Unable to see each other, they had to come up with something, as they would most likely fall prey to Daniel otherwise.

"We have to turn back, now!" Malava spoke as low as she could "Drop the phones and turn off their lights or he'll catch us!" Sabrina made the intelligent offer which they didn't hesitate to do, even if it meant abandoning their mission of further recording; their lives were more important "Let's grab each other's hands and slowly walk out of here...!!" The four of them had trouble at first, but eventually, their hands were connected "Wait!" Kei told them to halt in order to hear Daniel's footsteps.

In such a hollow place with such a wide area, hearing the echo of someone's footsteps was fairly possible.

A normal footstep came forth.

".............." They held their breaths in anxiety because the footstep sound came from relatively closeby "........!!" A very, but VERY strong additional footstep was heard; feeling like a hammer had just hit the ground "Let's get going! We need to go forward and then turn to the right for a couple of meters and then we will be able to go back!" Kei told them as low as she could.

Without needing to verbally agree to what she had just said, they continued to move forward; though after a while, Higashima, who is leading them, hit with her head on the wall.

"AGH---" She tapped her mouth as fast as possible but it was of no use, her loud scream was heard due to the pain inflicted---thus they halted their breaths and tried to hear Daniel's footsteps "..............." They heard nothing, but they tried again "..........." Nothing again, which was odd to them.

However, what was even more odd was the subsequent event.

Suddenly, with an uprising sequence, the lights were all turned on, from north to south.

"What the---" In a medium voice, Sabrina expressed her anxious surprise as they saw that they were in fact on the wall that was connected to the entrance they came from.

But Daniel was not in their sight. On their right, they had a horizontal control panel heighting five meters and with just one meter of distance between the next one, there was another control panel on their northeast. Twenty more in total before they could reach the entrance.

"Wait!" Higashima spoke as she tried to hear Daniel's footsteps one more time "...But that's..." She could not comprehend how there was no noise from him, which was deeply messing with her stress levels "...If he spots you, run for your lives..." She additionally said as they crawled on all fours toward the entrance; keeping maximum attention to the area around them---mainly north, northeast, and east--just so they could capture Daniel's location.

As they made their way, a light soft touch on Malava's right shoulder made her posture turn to stone. She didn't have to turn around to know. Just the acknowledgment and the fact that it was two taps from an index finger and the most crucial part of all---the knowledge that in front of her, there were three girls: Kei, Sabrina, and Higashima, made Malava try to scream and alert the three of them.

But her neck was thoroughly snapped because Daniel simply put down the mini guns and used his two hands to send Malava a ticket to death's door.

"?!" They turned around and witnessed Daniel wearing a wry smile while on all fours "GYAAAAAAAAA---" Kei received three bullets to her brain and Daniel additionally shot Sabrina in her upper torso four times; leaving only Higashima, who retreated backward, panicking as Daniel erupted his posture; pointing his right mini gun at her "Nonononononononono----" She repeated herself as Daniel continued to slowly advance to her, but without showing signs of wanting to conquer her speed.

His lack of verbal expression combined with his terrifying smile that had traits of charisma in it, were too much for Higashima to handle and so, she gave up on trying to run.

Face to face with Daniel, knowing she could die the moment he pressed the trigger, she struggled to come up with words.

"Take your time." Daniel said "?!" Confused, Higashima couldn't figure out what was Daniel's intent.

Why was she being spared despite the fact that she was being held at gunpoint and the very fact that Daniel just a few seconds ago, mercilessly killed the three other girls but not her? Higashima didn't know.

Impulsive tears and hiccups came forth. Naturally, she wet herself too, but that couldn't be helped.

"Go on." Daniel gave her some encouragement "It's before they die that they come up with all of the excuses to live. What I want is the real you. That's all I ever want; this way, I actually get to know people better than most; they give their true selves to me and they die knowing they were understood." Daniel explained it with a small thesis "............" Stunned and somehow no longer showing signs of verbal struggle, it was as if Higashima had something to say to him.

Higashima looked at Daniel's black eyes and then spoke her true mind, knowing fully well, she was going to die.

"Oh man. I'm going to die without ever knowing true love. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that you think that you will achieve it someday." She lightly laughed, but earned Daniel's interest for a second "Explain." He ordered "...Huh?" Unaware of why she wasn't dead yet, Higashima wasn't expecting to deliver a follow-up "I don't know, it's intuition. I am confident that there is someone in your heart of hearts that you refuse to let go because you haven't found true love. Because, who else does this...? You, just like any other, want to be loved, don't you?" Higashima didn't hesitate to speak her true mind once again.

Daniel was momentarily shocked and then decided to stuff his miniguns into his central belt. Subsequently, he sat down on the floor mainly in the pool of blood that the other bodies were emitting.

"You know, you're right. I was tasked with killing everyone who walked into the secret areas of this island. This is one of them. The reason I'm doing this is because I want my girlfriend back. She killed herself." Higashima kept on listening while feeling a bit of sorry for Daniel as she judged that he was actually not lying "This is a trial. By killing you all, I pass the trials. So, let me ask you this: despite knowing this, why aren't you hating me?" Daniel asked as his curiosity peaked.

It was true. Though horrified and somewhat fearing for her death; Higashima wasn't showing a violent hatred nor hatred at all toward Daniel like Youjo did, for example.

"I don't know..." She started to weep "You don't?" Daniel asked "I mean... No one has ever been nice to me or wants to listen to me genuinely, so I like this moment right now, even if... guuuuuhhhhh" She weeped even further "Even if... I'm going to die, uaaaahhhhh!!" Her eyes closed as she cried; her mouth howling a cry in despair "See? It's a genuine interaction. Wouldn't you agree?" Daniel smiled, despite Higashima's struggle "Yeah... Yeah. It's one for sure. It's just----" Daniel shot her in the brain; her body falling onto the cold ground forcefully.

Daniel got up from the floor and went close to Higashima's dead body.

He grabbed her back and then allowed her body's blood; mainly her head's, to spread all over his clothes as he hugged her tightly.

"Huh, you two really smell alike." Daniel sniffed her body thoroughly and then dropped her on the ground "Oh well. Now then..." Daniel had to make his move.

Going over to the north side of the area, Daniel was in front of a mega computer with forty plasma screens all combined into one. This master computer allowed Daniel to gain access to the surveillance cameras implanted all over the holy mountain of Vega. This includes the outside area, the ruins, the great spiral staircase, the darker area where half of the girls were brutally murdered earlier, the path underneath with the tubes connecting, and the remaining two rooms to which the other paths lead.

As of now, Daniel is watching a group of four girls exploring a room in the shape of a pentagon that has similar purposes to this one, except slightly different ones.

"I enjoy coming up with ways to end their lives, so it pains me to do it like this..." Daniel sighed as he pressed the "Release toxic gas" button amidst the hundreds of buttons on the control table in front of him; located at his waist's height "How overconfident though. To actually think they thought of getting out of here and somehow deliver evidence... In insight, that's destructive for me, but they don't know why... Anyways..." Daniel put the central room's footage onto all the plasmas "I have to put it back in its place or else I can't go forward..." Daniel pressed a button that said "Mania factory central" and slowly but surely, his body started to fade away from top to bottom, just like a hologram.

Entering a room that is in an oval shape and lacking many features in general though blessed with a darker illumination, Daniel's body began to form during the entrance now that the teleportation was complete.

There was a focal point in this area; the center. The center is a massively tall five-meter width---with a towering eight-kilometer height---that upholds all the orange liquid contained within this section. If there was a power source, this would most likely be it. Aside from that, the oval area is covered with hundreds of tubes that connect the liquid all the way to the center, from all sides.

Fairly hotter and lacking in cold, the temperature would surprise anyone. The low light and the only light source being the orange glowing liquid brimming tube at the center would be enough to detect someone around thanks to the stronger light.

Right on the left side of the gigantic tube upholding all the liquid, there was a component box holder; where the respective component must be placed.

Daniel's vision became completely narrowed as he saw Lulu walking up to the box.

He took aim at her with the intent to kill.

Just as he was ready to commit to the action; a powerful shockwave to Daniel's brain was emitted.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" In extreme pain, Daniel crooked down his position and placed both of his hands which are being held with miniguns, on the two sides of his head "?!" Looking behind her, Lulu saw Daniel having a meltdown as well as his miniguns shooting bullets to the ceiling as he pressed them unknowingly "OH MY GOD, NO!" Seeing that Daniel was somehow not focused on her despite having lethal weapons in his possession; the fact that Daniel was bleeding from his eyes and mouth suddenly, told her that this was the chance.

As Daniel unleashed a chain of terror screams that made Lulu's heart skip several times, she went for it. While not noticing that the orange liquid within the tube was suddenly fluctuating and bursting in bubbles on the inside, Lulu paid that no mind and inserted the bottom of the ax in the semi-tall rectangular black box whose entry fit it with the ax.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!! D-DAMN IT! NO, NO, NO!!" Daniel did his best as he attempted to physically move while fighting the sudden mental breakdown "THE SIDE EFFECTS, AT A TIME LIKE THIS?! YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!" Enraged, Daniel looked at Lulu who was recording everything on her phone, but more importantly, a vocal message would come forward shortly.

A familiar robotic voice present in all sections, greeted the winner.

"Dear customer; it is my honor to inform you that you, one of the beta testers of New Bavaria---have successfully terminated the trial of its seventh district." Lulu focused on this new information as Daniel was crawling; gritting his teeth in the process "As a reward, privileged access to the eighth district of New Bavaria has been granted. Would you wish to continue with your journey?" The voice asked "NO! NO! NO! NO!" Daniel, in agony, expressed his denial while aiming at Lulu with his right minigun.

He fired shots but the migraine was so strong to the point of making him have to close his eyes as a mental trauma response which caused the bullets to go to the tube. However, the tube was unharmed; it was only extremely vivid for some reason.

"YES! YES, TAKE ME TO THE NEXT STOP! ONLY ME!" Lulu, without hesitation, verbally decimated Daniel with her words "Understood. Please sit tight in the capsule; dear customer. Your trip to Alexandria will take off in ten seconds." The voice claimed.

To Daniel's despair, an opening on the ground was formed, right in front of the general tube and what appeared was no other than a capsule that resembled a car's seat but it was covering Lulu with an impenetrable shield.

"NOOOOO!!!" Daniel, with all of his strength, screamed and this time, didn't fail to hit his target with his two miniguns.

Except, despite the fact that his aim was right, the window's shield did not allow the bullets to gain any effect.

Never feeling so afraid for her life, Lulu cried and cried while shouting in horror as Daniel plummeted the shield with his miniguns' bullets although to no avail.

"Have a nice trip, dear customer. We hope Alexandria is to your liking." Emerging with the ground; the capsule holding Lulu, took her off to the next section right as she was recording all of this---thus leaving the area and Daniel with all the evidence "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" In a feat of rage, Daniel pulverized his fists on the ground; letting them bleed, the bones slowly shattering.

Not only has Lulu escaped, but Daniel's way of getting into the upcoming section is thoroughly blocked. The secret to these areas is that they require the key item to be inserted in the secret area. As far as secret areas go; they are hard to find and require a number of unknown factors in order to be accessible.

From Daniel's perspective, Lulu's involvement meant that this entire place was leaked, but not only that; he had thoroughly lost to Yoh's strategy.

He could feel a heavy laughter at him somehow, from all the boys.

Yet this was not what was bothering Daniel the most. The one thing that was occupying his mind was why he was feeling so much pain in his brain. He could not understand why, but the closer he was to the tube; or rather, the more he looked at it, the more his brain felt like it was undergoing an earthquake.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!" Daniel rolled on the ground and groveled in pain "THIS ISN'T A SIDE-EFFECT!!! IT'S THE DAMN TUBE!! ALL THIS FRICTION IS MELTING MY BRAIN!!" Daniel got to the core of the matter.

Midst his physical and mental overbearing during the endeavor; an impertinent but lustful wisteria smell filled Daniel's nostrils. Her slow confident steps toward Daniel from the entrance made him turn his head back to the entrance of the room as he tried to see who it was.

"You're toooooo close to the heart of it! That's no good! No good at all! At this rate; the friction of it---just being near its presence, is gonna blow you away!" Although this was their first time meeting, Daniel recalled the voice from the video Sagasuga had shown earlier and it was all clear to him "You're...!!" He finally caught a glimpse of her figure "Hellooooooooooooo thereeeeeeeee!!" She softly massaged Daniel's face right cheek though filled with blood "My name is Syndrana!!! And youuuuuuuuuuu, have failed the trial; mister Daniel Lead!"

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