No, wait. Why was Alice in possession of Golden Points? Rain’s thoughts ran amok. Did she take it from her teammates in the Glades? Why?

As usual, the answers were not laid bare to him. In that regard he didn’t dwell on the thoughts for too long. A dangerous person was only a few steps away from him, he couldn’t afford to be distracted.

Although, now that he was reminded of the Golden Points in his possession, he decided to do what he had been asked to do.

[Transfer 10 Golden Points to Player Sean?]

Yes…

And with his words of reply, Rain could feel something—a minuscule part of himself—leaving his body. He didn’t need to pull up his Plexus Interface to know that the section for Golden Points now only possessed zeroes.

“Rain?” Sean spoke from behind him, seemingly already having received his gift and maybe the silent message that it came with.

He did not spare the boy a glance, though. He simply remained silent. It was not like there was anything he could say currently. His whole plan had turned to shit. Despite that, he still had to make sure Sean survived this, it was her wish.

Klein continued his talk then, surprisingly undisturbed by Nun Cathleen who now had a scowl on her face. He pointed at her, his words directed at the rest of the oblivious children. “She killed Kelvin.” Breaths were drawn. “Her and the Archbishop; so… Please, you guys, stop seeing her the way you see her.”

There was a deafening silence at those words, one so bad that Rain thought he could hear the sound of his own sweat trickling down the side of his face.

She killed a child?

He’d wanted this to happen—for the secret to be spilled—but now that he knew what the secret was, he felt bad for the children. His chest tightened, his tongue parched, and his heart struck by a sharp pang. At the same time, he was brimming with an overbearing contempt for the nun and Archbishop and curiosity as to why they had done something like that to a child.

“Sh-Shut your mouth, Klein!” Rain heard a grunt from behind him, one muffled out from the pounding of his heart. “I told you not to say such nasty things! Kelvin died by his mistake during a battle against a Chimera, so stop talking out of your behind.”

“Do you really believe that, Ray?” Klein asked, his tone no longer as agitated as it had been earlier on. “Do all of you really believe that Kelvin, who was even stronger and smarter than me, could lose his life to a Chimera by mistake? He was smarter than that, and you all know it. He would have run away if he knew he didn’t stand a chance.”

It was quiet for a second. This was the chance Rain had been seeking.

Nun Cathleen was gazing at the children with narrowed eyes, still unmoving; her mind was obviously occupied. This was his chance to take Sean and escape. But for some reason, he couldn’t move his legs.

No. He knew the reason. He could not risk taking the chance because of the kids.

The nun had already killed one of them once, what was the guarantee that she wouldn’t kill what was left of them now? His plan to come back to them would vanish into thin air because there would be no one to come back to. There was no way his conscience would let him be if he abandoned the lot of them to die.

Alice wouldn’t be happy with him either. The right thing was…

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Yes.

He was going to protect them by all means necessary… Even if he had to rely on it.

“And…” Klein continued, “Ella was there as well. We both saw it all. There was something blue, like a portal; Nun Cathleen killed Kelvin under the orders of the Archbishop before it. After that it vanished.”

Rain’s eyebrows dropped.

Portal? Wait… Was it a Glade’s gate? Then…

He came to a realization then and there, courtesy of him recalling the exchange of information Alice and Nun Cathleen had made.

The reason Nun Cathleen asked for Sean’s Role was because… The tightness around his forehead loosened… All the children are Deuteragonists or below. They are trying to avoid going into Glades by making sure no Protagonist child was among them? I see. Kelvin was a Protagonist, and killing him made the Glade that had appeared vanish. Then, if I reveal Sean’s Role now, they won’t have any reason for keeping us here… Alice, I would be able to save Alice.

I would be able to—

“You’re lying!” Ray’s voice was loud but it had a flicker to it. “Say you’re lying right now! Say it!” Klein’s voice was not heard. “Why aren’t you saying anything, Nun Cathleen? Why aren’t you?”

“Ugh…” Rain bit down on his lips and was about to make a decision when Nun Cathleen’s face tightened as she relieved the tension around her neck. “You’re loud.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you already believe it?” she added. “Trying to change your minds is pointless. Ah, fuck. The Archbishop won’t like this development. But I guess we can just start all over again. Fuck. Starting over again isn’t as easy as it sounds, you know? Klein, darling, you just had to go and ruin everything, you little shit.” Her gaze shifted to Rain, who perked up as J instantly pounced in front of him snarling. “You… You’re even worse.”

“What are you saying, Nun?!” the children roared, but she simply raised her hand towards them keeping their lips shut with that simple gesture.

Rain said, “You’re a brazen one, aren’t you? Simply trying to convince the children that you are not who they think you are, or giving them a good enough reason for why you did what you did would have sufficed, but instead you reveal your true nature.”

His initial thoughts were lost. He really wanted to save Alice, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the kids here alone with such a psycho. And besides…

“Pfft. A waste of time,” Nun Cathleen replied. “They’ll always remember what was said here even if I tried to change their thoughts. Look at the rascal the words came out of; he’s their fucking leader.”

“So, what now?” Rain asked, his neck tensed up to the point that it felt as though his veins were about to pop out of them. “You’re going to kill them all?”

“Eh, I guess.” Gasps resonated through the opening surrounded by trees and shrubs where they stood. “Tsk. Shut it, all of you. If you’d just gone to morning prayers like you were meant to, everything would have proceeded fine like it used to, but you all chose to be stupid.” She downturned her lips with a slight shrug. “Well, I wouldn’t blame you totally, that’s why I’ll make sure the one who caused you to take such actions will join you as well. In fact, they’ll go first.”

Rain wasn’t surprised at those words. In fact, he had been expecting it. This woman had crossed the line; she was not letting any of them leave here alive, most especially not him or Sean.

“You know,” she continued as she approached. “I used to think you were quite the handsome young lad; now, though, eh, I just want to rip out your eyeballs. We could have avoided all this mess. You should have just left the boy and disappeared along with that crazy lady like ghosts at night. Everything would have been fine.” She suddenly bared her teeth as her face contorted into a rumple of fury. “Now you’re making me kill more children! Do you know how hard it was to gather them all and train them?!”

Rain tensed up, but his response was too slow.

Nun Cathleen appeared before him, a dagger of smoke she had not been wielding before visible in her hand. She lunged it towards his abdomen, a grin relishing in an ecstasy, brought about from her apparent precognition which displayed him bleeding out and turning pale and cold, evident on her face.

“Now die!”