Silvia looked over at the smiler at the other end of the room. A girls figure in a wine-coloured hoodie standing unmoving in the corner.

"Wendy, who is this?" Odebode asked, attempting to look calm while looking at Silvia.

Silvia held back the desire to throw up. Just as she thought the people running this game couldn't get any worse, they pull this. The smiler slowly approached Wendy, who didn't move. Odebode ran over to her, grabbing her and ducking away before the smiler got the chance. The smiler just glanced at him, it's body language looking more disappointed than anything else.

"Silvia! What's the status on the smilers?" He yelled as a comatose looking Wendy shocked him.

Silvia glanced out the door, and the smilers were replaced with a mass of black gunk that smelled like rotting flesh.

"We're…we're good." Silvia muttered.

"Good, I'm going." Odebode ran out with Wendy, and Silvia followed him to the next floor. Sure enough, another horde of smilers came shambling out of the doors. Nothing left to do, Odebode threw Wendy's body into the horde of smilers. The shocks she was letting out stunned all of the smilers, and Odebode picked her up and ran to the next floor just as the symphony of explosions started. Once all that was left was the black gunk, Silvia followed him to the next floor, slipping slightly on the gunk as she did so. By the time she got to the next floor, it was already cleared. This continued until she finally caught up with the two of them at the top. By the time she did, she was nauseous and covered in black chunks of flesh.

"Close the door!" Odebode yelled, sitting against the railing.

Silvia looked towards the open door, closing it while leaving the explosive by the door before it closed.

"So, we've won?" Silvia sighed as she sat next to Odebode.

"Seems we get to stick around another day." Odebode confirmed, taking off his hoodie and handing it to her.

"If you need to get any smiler juice off."

"Oh. No thanks, it's fine." Silvia replied, throwing it towards Wendy. "We've got showers for a reason. And she probably needs it more."

Odebode glanced over at Wendy, still not moving. "If you say so."

Silvia took the hoodie and began wiping Wendy's face. You weren't supposed to make it this far, kid. She thought. But yet you did. So congratulations. Or at least, probably alive. Hopefully? She didn't know how screwed she was from all of this. She tried her best to get all the gunk out of her clothes, and as she did, she heard mumbling noises coming from her.

"J-J-J-J-J."

Wendy suddenly opened her eyes and shot upright.

"Jeanne?!" She yelled, beginning to cry while holding her hands behind her head.

"Wendy, you okay?" Silvia asked.

"Yeah, I…I think I am." Wendy replied softly. "I just had a…dream. A dream that my sister died."

Silvia looked over at Odebode. "She thinks it's a dream?" She mouthed to him quietly.

"Play along." Odebode mouthed back. "Sounds like a scary dream you had." Odebode replied with a quick chuckle. "It's probably just a stress thing, don't worry too much about it."

"It happened." Silvia said quickly.

"Silvia!" Odebode yelled, shooting upwards.

"Wait, what!" Wendy yelled.

"Look, what's the point of lying if she goes home and finds her main reason for fighting isn't around anymore? Look Wendy, I'm sorry. But what you saw was real, and it was your sister."

Wendy looked over at Odebode, who nodded slowly. Wendy stared out in disbelief in silence over the city.

"It's real? She's really dead?" Wendy asked again, tears filling her eyes.

"I wouldn't lie to you about this." Silvia affirmed quietly. "I'm…I'm sorry this happened to you."

Wendy started wailing, falling to her knees and bawling. Letting out incomprehensible sentences in between.

"I get it, Wendy." Silvia sighed, trying not to cry herself. She'd go in to hug her, but the electric shocks coming out of her indicated it wasn't the best idea. The crying continued for several minutes, and Silvia and just looked over the city while it happened.

The crying stopped after a few minutes.

"S-Silvia?" Wendy asked, her voice warbling.

"Yo?" Silvia replied quietly.

"Why are we still fighting?" She asked.

"To make it through the game?"

"But that only makes them stronger!" Wendy screamed, letting a shock out as she did so which narrowly missed Odebode. "Look, if we keep this up, then the people will keep watching! And then they'll just make another game next year! And next year! And it'll just keep going!"

"Well, the only way to survive once you're stuck here is to play." Silvia sighed, reaching into her pockets for her non existing cigarettes.

"But…what if we all just die?" Wendy whispered.

Silvia turned around quickly. "Did you just ask if we should die?"

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Well, if we all die there won't be a game! And if we start the trend of just dying at the start, then the game will eventually end!"

Silvia looked over at Odebode, hoping he had some kind of solution to whatever she was saying.

"Come on, Wendy." Odebode added, forcing a smile. "I don't think Eric would like to hear you talking like that."

"But what if Eric's dead?!" Wendy yelled. "Then what? And again, the game is just gonna start next year!"

"It doesn't have to start next year!" Odebode assured her, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder and getting an electric shock to the eye straight after.

"Not starting next year?" Silvia asked. "What's the deal with this?"

"Um, well…I'm not sure how much I can explain, since this is Cyrus plan and everything. But we're basically planning on…overthrowing the Novas."

"Wait, you are?" Asked Wendy, her face lighting up, and making yet another electric shock.

"Relax, Wendy." Silvia sighed. "Care to explain how you're doing this?"

"Well, this whole thing is Cyrus plan, like I said. But he has connections with a couple of the Novas, and he says the whole system could come undone if enough people sign up."

"Interesting." Silvia replied quietly. "So let me guess, we join up with you and get the other four killed?"

"Killed?" Odebode asked, his smile fading.

"The three of us with Cyrus and Eric. We overpower the other four. That's the plan, right?"

"Wait, no! This isn't some kind of alliance, anyway!" Odebode added quickly. "It's just a plan, you know? Because if we're gonna end the game, we need all the help we can get."

"Well, I'm helping!" Wendy yelled. "And so are you, right?"

"I mean, if something shows up to my house." Silvia shrugged. "I make my hair into plants, not exactly the strongest person here."

"Silvia, come on." Odebode replied. "That kind of thinking is what let the Novas come to power and have this whole level thing! We are weak alone, but we probably outnumber the Novas hundredfold! Look, once Cyrus comes back I can discuss everything with you!"

"Right, right." Silvia nodded, folding her arms. "Look, maybe if you can get Eric involved in this, I'll consider it."

"Come on, come on. The energy radiating off you! Give me more!"

Eric clutched his bloody right arm as Mersache taunted him. He let it go, and it fell limp next to him. He let a few streams out of water from his fingernails on his left hand, taking a breath and letting them sharpen into a claw. He leapt towards Mersache, who's smirk evolved into a manic toothy grin as it slashed across his face.

"Yes. Yes!" He screamed to the ceiling. Mersache quickly ran his hand across his face, noticing the faint traces of blood on his fingers.

"Yes, this is exactly what I'm looking for! Come on Eric, you broken masterpiece! We're on the edge of greatness here!"

Cyrus got behind him, forming a shoddily made sword with some excess bone and thrusting it into him. Once it was inside, he made the bone spread out into the rest of Mersache's body, and he audibly groaned once it started.

"That's…quite the technique there!"

Mersache melted into a pile of blood, which quickly reformed, starting with his hand. He grabbed Cyrus before his manic smile resurfaced as Cyrus was slammed into the ground.

"If I was anyone else, I'd be in serious trouble!" Mersache cackled to himself. He quickly solidified some blood around his hand and formed it into a claw, which he used to swipe at Cyrus. Cyrus hardened his bones to survive the mad swiping of attacks, but the skin was still tearing.

"Nothing?" Mersache asked quietly. "Nope, doesn't seem like it. Stoic type. Harder to provoke. Not like that bag of swirling emotions next to you!"

Eric looked at Mersache ready to kill, and Mersache replied with his manic smile once again. Eric made another claw and swiped at Mersache. Mersache casually picked up Cyrus and used him as a shield for the attack, laughing as the water tore his flesh even more.

"Alright, alright. Let's get serious here." Mersache chuckled. "Bone man isn't going to awaken any time soon, so let's ditch him for now."

Cyrus body was casually thrown to the side, stopped by Amber's shadows slowing him down gently.

"Now, Eric." Mersache said calmly. "Let's see just what it will take for you to awaken."

Mersache let a small trail of blood pour out of his finger and onto the floor. And in an instant, hardening it and slashing Eric's leg with it. Eric's eyes popped open, and he fell to one knee. His eyes bulged but he didn't dare scream. Showing any weakness at a time like this could be fatal.

"Amber…can you wrap a shadow around this?" He asked calmly, looking up at Amber. Amber nodded, wrapping a shadow around Eric's left leg, covering up the bleeding wound on his right arm.

"Yes, amazing!" Mersache yelled. "Fighting to the bitter end, I adore it! I adore you, Eric! Now come on, face me!"

Eric did as he asked. Amber's shadow pushed back to give him a little more acceleration, which he used to claw into Mersache's smiling face once again. Once the water was in, Amber's shadows leapt up to greet Mersache, covering his eyes in darkness. Mersache solidified the blood around his eyes, and it crystalized around his eyes and forced the shadows off of him.

He looked at Eric once again, and Eric's eyes looked different. They were shining a brilliant blue, like the skies he spent decades neglecting.

"We're close! We're so close! This is it, the final stretch!"

Mersache was so enamoured by Eric's eyes that he didn't notice ten shadowy tendrils sneaking behind him. All ten of them struck him at once. Mersache had to melt his midsection to let them all pass through, and Amber had to rapidly pull Eric out of the way as to not hit him. Eric put both arms outwards, and both hands formed his own watery tendrils which surrounded him and Mersache.

"Is this what it looks like in person?" Mersache whispered to himself.

The tendrils all silently moved towards Mersache, who solidified some blood around his left pinkie finger to counter it.

And then the onslaught happened.

One to his midriff, one to his right leg. The damage wasn't substantial, but it was there. It actually hurt! Dual awakenings! He watched the towering strands loom over him and strike, all moving in their own brilliant patterns, which would have been the death of his mortal self. But while two of them tried to hit each shoulder, the other eight all suddenly appeared behind him and struck him directly in his spine.

He jerked forward, and the tendrils fell around him. He looked at his hand. The crystalized blood was gone. His eyes widened. He knew what he just did, and slowly looked up to confirm it.

In front of him was Eric. His eyes back to normal and his body being supported by Amber's shadows. And most devastating, the solidified blood chunk in his heart.

"Eric? Eric! No! Stay here, stay with me!"

But Eric didn't say anything. He just slumped over. Mersache ran up to his body, shaking it and removing the blood chunk, hoping for some kind of response, which never came. Mersache dropped his lifeless body, leaving Amber to witness him aimlessly wander around the room. He approached the tank that was holding Yun-Yeong's body and punched it. The glass cracked, causing the liquid to spill out and Yun-Yeong's body to slump against the container.

"If anyone asks, he died fighting a robot. If you attempt to say anything else, you and Cyrus will be instantly eliminated. Understood?"

"Understood." Amber nodded.

"Now take Cyrus and get out of here. You two progress to the next round."

Mersache pulled a watch out of his suit, tapping it a few times before putting it back.

On the rooftop, a few explosions were heard from below, and all three people left got a notification on their watches.

"So, someone's dead." Silvia exclaimed quietly. "Says we can all head back to where we were split up."

"Who do you think is dead?" Wendy asked.

"Probably someone on Vanessa's team. I don't think anyone on Eric's team could die that easily."

Back in the warehouse, Vanessa and Andrei were looking at where the remaining boxes were. Vanessa hid behind one, still holding a panicking Micah. The block behind her fell, and Vanessa turned around and proudly displayed Micah. Once the claw grabbed him, she calmly let go.

"Bye bye, Micah!" She yelled, smacking the emerging parasites once they emerged from her skin.

Micah was dragged near the robot while desperately trying to get it's hands away from his neck, but the metallic arm fell just as he was about to get near it. As he slowly got up and away from the robot, he checked the notification on his watch.

"Someone else died. We need to go back."