Chapter 85

this is a fictional story by realTensai

Alvis’ phone buzzed while he was on his way to the classroom. He looked at it and saw that he had received a message from Lia. What normally would make his heart rejoice now only worsened his mood as he saw its content.

Lia: Al, I heard about what happened before the main hall. Are you safe?

Yet he couldn’t help but smile, as the first thing she asked about was his wellbeing.

Alvis: Yes, I am.

Lia: Thank god :). I didn’t hear about the details of what went on, so could you tell me everything?

Alvis: I’m kinda tired right now. I will just tell you tomorrow in person.

Lia: Okay, stay safe. Love you.

Alvis: Love you too.

He put his phone back into his pocket, though it took a bit more time for his smirk to fade away. However, he had already reached the school building and was standing right before the classroom he had slept in for the last week. Without wasting more time, he entered.

“Oh, hey, Alvis.”

As soon as he stepped in, Kris greeted him, his genuine smile more valuable than mana crystals in these turbulent times.

“Hey, Kris,” Alvis answered with a soft smile, too. However, something caught his attention as he looked around the room. “Quite empty here, isn’t it?”

The room that had once housed twelve students was now only filled with six.

“We’re the only ones left,” Morgo, the jaguar beastman whose energy had kept this room alive for the last week, said. However, even his words now came out cold, void of emotion.

“The three demons from class 3C, Charles, and your two classmates Thomas and Karl have left,” Feng the dwarf and Morgo’s classmate explained.

“They don’t feel safe anymore after the incident today,” Kris said.

After having seen what happened today, Alvis couldn’t even be mad at them.

“They might think they’re safer in the dorms, but I don’t think that’s the case,” Loid said, not having lost his analytic mind even within this situation. “In this room we have Mr. York staying with us. Having a master-ranked mage as a personal guard; I don’t think it gets safer than that.”

“Agree. That’s why I’m still here,” Feng said.

“I guess this room has lost its purpose for me,” Victor said.

He stood up and was about to leave the room.

“Hey, where are you going?” Kris asked.

“To a place with more information. Isn’t that obvious?”

He left and no one could stop him.

“What’s this guy’s deal?”

However, amidst the confusion, Alvis’ brain urged him into action.

“I will be right back,” he said as he left the room, too. “Victor, wait.”

Victor turned around, a calculated grin on his face.

“Alvis. How can I help you?”

“Let’s go to a place where it’s just the two of us. We still have a bit more time left before the curfew.”

And so they did. They went to the fountain where no one would be around this time.

“So, what do you want to know?”

“Everything you’ve found out within this week.”

“How much are you willing to pay?”

“Real money probably doesn’t matter to you right now. But I can pay you game coins.”

“Right answer,” Victor said with a mischievous smirk. “As expected of you, you already found out about the coin transfer method.”

“The Priest didn’t announce it but I realized it after analyzing every feature of this system.”

There was a hidden option called transfer coins. One had to select how many coins one wanted to transfer and also the player’s name one wanted to transfer them to. All that was left was to confirm the transfer by touching the other person for ten seconds straight. Alvis tried it out with Lia, and it worked.

“I will pay you 200 coins and you tell me everything you know.”

“Fuhahaha, even in times like these, you don’t lose your humor. You know damn well that 200 coins aren’t enough for everything I know.”

It was at least worth a try.

“But I can tell you some important stuff that might interest you.”

“Fine with me.”

They agreed and by shaking hands for ten seconds, Alvis transferred the 200 coins.

Only 200 left. I hope this will be worth it.

“Let me start,” Victor said, forcing Alvis to listen up. “The first kill will probably happen within the next few days.”

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Alvis’ heart dropped, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

“H-How do you know that?”

“That doesn’t matter. All I do is tell you what I know and not how I know it.”

“This isn’t a joke, Victor. We are talking about life and death here!”

“My principles transcend life and death.”

Victor’s face remained unchanged, not a hint of hesitation or doubt in his words. Alvis could only clench his fists as he realized Victor’s true nature. No matter what, no matter the stakes, he would stay true to himself. The only way one could get information from him was with money.

I can cry about it or just play by his rules.

“So, what can we do about it? Is there a way to stop it?”

“It’s no use. At this point, it is inevitable and you know that.”

Alvis gritted his teeth, unable to refute what he just heard. The only reason no one died today was because Alvis was there. However, he wouldn’t be able to stop every conflict that might happen in the future. And if they were to escalate like the one today, then the first kill wasn’t unlikely.

“You might think that what happened today was terrible coincidences staking up leading to the worst outcome. However, this isn’t the truth.”

“What?! Are you telling me that this fight was planned?”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was planned, but it wasn’t unwanted either.”

“Stop talking in hieroglyphs and explain it already.”

“Behind the back of Mr. Woltzer and the teachers, students have formed teams. The demon who got assigned to today’s quest is also part of a team and that’s why he was so adamant on completing the quest, as the rewards would go to everyone on his team.”

Alvis’ eyes widened as his body movements momentarily froze. However, the gears in his mind wouldn’t stop running as everything fell into place.

Now I understand why everything escalated this much.

“How many teams have already formed? Who is part of a team? What….- I probably have to pay more for this information, right?”

“Right, but I will give you one crucial hint. There are several teams out there, and I hope you remember all the advantages a team has.”

Once again, Alvis’ eyes widened as his brain caught on to what he was hinting at.

“If one person on a team completes a quest, everyone on it gets the reward. The same goes for the first blood quest.”

“Bingo.”

“People are forming teams and are ready to kill a person. If they do it in secret and the entire team gets instant freedom, one can’t pinpoint who did the killing and the team can avoid the consequences. All they had to do was play innocent and say they didn’t know who did it and they didn’t even know that someone in their team had planned on doing it.--- Fuck!”

“This is all I have to share with you,” Victor said, wrapping up.

“Wait, how about we make a deal?”

“A deal?”

“Yes. From now on I will give you 50 percent of the coins I earn, but you will share 50 percent of the information you come across that is the most important for me.”

Victor went silent for a moment, scratching his chin in consideration.

“Normally I don’t do these kinds of deals,” he said, however in the next second a diabolical smile crossed his face. “But you caught my attention. I have a good nose when it comes to money and right now, you smell like you will flourish in this survival game. I will take the deal.”

“All right then.”

They shook hands and closed the deal. Victor went to the dorms, and Alvis made his way back to the classroom. However, his brain was still pondering over everything he found out today.

I don’t even know where to start. Firstly, the barrier was created by using science and not magic, which means we have to break it with science. But the only one capable of that is Elise, but she doesn’t come out of her lab and doesn’t even respond to my messages. However, I can’t even focus all my attention on her as the situation is escalating and the first kill is approaching. Even though Victor said there was no way we could stop it, we can’t just let it happen either. As soon as the first kill happens, hell will break out. Will this run even be worth saving after this point? No, I can’t think like that! I only have three lives this time and I can’t throw away my life. I should’ve learned it last time, that even though I can respawn, I’m still a human and that my life is valuable. I will have to see it through the end no matter what might happen!

“Hhaa~” Alvis exhaled, his brain unable to work anymore.

Seriously, I need some rest.

The classroom was already in sight, and he would use this night to get a full sleep.

------

“---PIEEEEEEEEP---! Good morning, everyone!”

A high-pitched, ear-splitting screech shattered the morning silence.

Alvis jumped out of his sleeping mat, the priest’s voice waking him up out of his slumber.

“What’s going on?”

He looked around, his heart pounding, and saw how the other students also woke up, their faces blank with confusion and dread. Even Mr. York seemed disoriented, glancing around warily.

“I do hope you all slept well and got some good rest,” the Priest continued, his voice smooth and mocking. “Because from today, this might change. I’ve got some wonderful news.”

His voice dripped with a perverse glee, laced with a cruel, almost sing-song cadence that made Alvis’s blood run cold. A twisted thrill in his tone made Alvis’s stomach twist, a primal instinct screaming that something terrible was coming.

“It finally happened!” the Priest declared, pausing just long enough to draw them into tense, unbearable silence. “The game has truly begun. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… the first kill!”

Suddenly, their screens lit up. A holographic display appeared before each student, casting an eerie, pale glow across the room. And then, in stark, horrifying detail, they saw it.

A body.

Behind the school’s main building, a student lay sprawled on the cold ground, limbs askew and unnaturally still. His face was a mask of terror, frozen in a final, silent scream. Brutal stab wounds marred his skin, his body drenched in blood. Knives had been driven into him again and again, the dried blood around the wounds dark and unforgiving. The camera zoomed in, capturing the lifeless eyes staring back at them, wide and unseeing.

For a heartbeat, silence held. Then:

“Bloouuugh!”

The sound of retching broke through the stillness as Morgo fell to his knees, vomiting onto the floor. His heaving seemed to trigger an avalanche.

“W-What… what is… this?” Kris’s voice came out thin and choked, eyes wide with horror as he backed away from the screen.

“What the fuck?! What the fuck?!” Loid, the one who never lost his calm, was now screaming.

Everyone shouted, their words tumbling over each other, shrill and frantic as they pressed themselves against the walls, trying to distance themselves from the image burned into their screens.

Even Alvis, with all his resolve, felt frozen in place, a cold sweat breaking out over his skin. His vision blurred as he took in the grotesque scene, each gruesome detail digging deeper into his mind, unraveling every ounce of courage he’d tried to hold onto. His heart thundered in his chest, a sick feeling coiling in his gut.

A schoolmate... murdered.

His breathing became unstable as he could hear his inner voice turning to that of the Devil confronting him with words of blame.

You knew the first kill would happen soon, yet you didn’t stop it. You did nothing and now it came to this. Because of you, everyone will die. You failed, again.

Alvis just grabbed his head, as these words wouldn’t stop assaulting him.

However, panic erupted. Kris was covering his mouth, his eyes squeezed shut. Others muttered frantically under their breath, their faces twisted with horror and disbelief.

“I-I can’t… no, no… this is…” Feng whispered, hands trembling as he collapsed to the floor, staring at the screen in horror.

Alvis forced himself to look away from the screen, his vision swimming. Instinctively, he searched the room for stability, for the one person who could calm them all down in this chaos. His gaze locked onto Mr. York, hoping, praying for the calm and guidance that a teacher had to provide.

But Mr. York wasn’t even looking at the screen. His face, usually firm and unshakeable, was deathly pale, his eyes wide and fixed on his phone, fingers shaking as he scrolled through something Alvis couldn’t see.

“Mr. York…?” Alvis’s voice was barely a whisper, but the teacher didn’t respond.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mr. York muttered under his breath, his voice rough, hollow. His gaze remained glued to his phone, a look of disbelief and terror twisting his features. “Please… tell me this is some kind of joke.”

The room fell silent once more, every horrified, trembling gaze now trained on Mr. York as he spoke. His voice was choked with fear, cracking as he read from the screen, refusing to meet the students’ terrified eyes.

“Mr. Woltzer… Mr. Woltzer… he’s gone.”