Chapter 89
this is a fictional story by realTensai
The air was thick with tension as everyone gathered in the student council office. They sat around the long old-school wooden table with Lia at the end. The ones present were Alvis, Lia, Maya, Chao, the three first years, Dane, and Sekki.
Just like usual, Alvis observed everyone’s facial expressions and body language, trying to gauge their mental state before the meeting started. After the first kill announcement and then closely followed by the announcement of Mr. Woltzer’s disappearance, many students fell into despair.
Even though he hoped this wasn’t the case, the same went for the three first years. They had been acting strong this entire time, holding on to hope without letting fear consume them. However, it just happened to be that they were present yesterday; the day that happened to be the turning point. Witnessing the escalating hatred firsthand and not being able to stop it hit them like a crushing soul attack. They hung their heads, not even daring to look up as if the first kill and Mr. Woltzer’s disappearance were their fault. Alvis could already guess what kind of thoughts currently ran through their heads.
Alvis’ eyes landed on Chao, the one he was worried about the most. Yet contrary to his expectations, Chao didn’t hang his head. He wasn’t even shaking, nor were his eyes trembling. No, Chao didn’t move at all. His eyes, no, his entire face just like an empty shell as he sat there staring into nothingness.
He has lost all hope!
Alvis clicked his tongue, realizing his friend was in an even worse position than he had imagined. However, he just clenched his fist, suppressing the urge to talk to him right now.
After this meeting, everything will change.
With that thought in mind, he looked at the person next to Chao, Dane. Just like Chao, Dane was still, neither shaking nor trembling. However, their mental states couldn’t have been more different. Dane’s eyes shone with an icy determination, like a seasoned warrior who knew that he was about to walk into all our war. Yet he was still untypically calm. The normal Dane would’ve been pumped up, eager to take action right here, right now. He would never sit in a meeting when the situation was so dire. A queasy feeling spread across Alvis’ stomach, as he couldn’t explain his best friend’s behavior.
“Before we start, Lia, I have a question,” Maya said, breaking the silence. “What are Dane and Sekki doing here?”
She stared at those two, not hiding her irritation. Dane just stared back, unfazed by her comment, but Sekki spoke up.
“Well, I would like to know that too,” he said, looking just as confused. His hands were slightly trembling, yet he still managed a wry smile.
Alvis had called them here, but it was Lia who gave him this order. However, he could already guess what she intended.
“Don’t worry, I will explain everything,” Lia stated. She took a deep breath in and out, one last time managing all her thoughts, and then, with her emerald eyes radiating with resolve, she started. “You all know of our current situation and how horrible it is. Not only was a fellow schoolmate killed, but our principal disappeared too. However, our situation is even worse than that. Just now, after the first kill announcement, human students battled with demons and it ended with a casualty on the demons’ side. Another schoolmate died. This resulted in the demons declaring war on the humans and likewise. In other words, we are currently in a warlike scenario with students willing to kill each other.”
Lia didn’t hold back and told everything that had happened. Those present who didn’t know about this couldn’t even respond. Dogan slammed his four massive fists against the table, making it shake as if an earthquake had hit it. He then grabbed his head, shaking it whilst a mixture of rage, grief, and disappointment mirrored in his eyes. The other first years could only bite their lips and clench their fists as they saw their demon friend having a breakdown.
Chao, on the other hand, didn’t even show a reaction, his gaze still hollow. The same went for Dane as his expression didn’t change, but in his case, it was as if he had already expected this to happen. However, Sekki was visibly shocked, holding his hand against his wide open mouth, his knitted eyebrows and trembling fingers exposing his mental state.
Lia just stared at them, her resolve not shaking even whilst taking in all their emotions.
“Our situation might seem hopeless and, to be completely honest, even I almost gave up. Yet I couldn’t. I couldn’t accept it. That’s why I’m ready to use every means possible to stop this madness.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Everyone lifted their gaze and looked at Lia, awaiting her coming words.
“I will take part in this survival game. I will create a student council team and we will win this game together,” Lia declared, not even a hint of doubt or hesitance in her claim.
Her confident words still echoed in the room, creating different reactions in everyone.
“So the time has come,” Sekki mumbled, his voice a mixture of anticipation and reluctance.
“Lia…” Maya said, her eyes widening for a second. However, she immediately switched modes and steeled herself, ready to side with Lia come what may.
Life reappeared in Chao’s face as soon as he heard her words, as if the hope of survival had resurrected in him. Yet it was the three first years who were unable to accept what Lia said.
“But… but if we form a team, we have to fight against the other students, don’t we?” Bero asked, rising from his seat as if protesting. “We would have to kill everyone else so that we would be the only ones to survive!”
“That isn’t the only way to win,” Lia responded calmly. “The Priest already told us the other option.”
Visible question marks formed on Bero’s face, but it was Chao who responded.
“You are talking about the quests that have the expansion of a team’s member limit as a reward, don’t you?”
“Exactly.” However, Bero and the other first years still didn’t seem to understand, so Lia elaborated on her plan. “We will form a student council team and, through those quests, increase the limit of our team members until we can take on every single one trapped in this barrier.”
There was a long silence as everyone took in her idea.
“Is this even possible?” Bero asked, now sitting down again.
“Are you really sure, Lia?” Sekki asked too. “Our school maybe has around 500 students, and that is not even adding teachers and other staff. To get everyone in one team just by completing quests is imp--… fairly unlikely. And I haven’t even addressed that with the situation as it is now, humans and demons would never work together, which means they would never join the same team.”
“I’m already aware of all of this,” Lia answered, not shying away from her idea. “I know that it will be hard, but this is our only option. However, I’m not just talking out of a place of pure idealism either. I also have a rational plan.”
“Tell us.”
“It’s pretty straightforward. We will become the strongest and most dominant team within this survival game, so the most logical and best option for an individual to survive would be to join our team. By doing that, we will only get bigger and stronger and we will absorb more and more teams. I also assume that the Priest will most likely introduce quests that will let two teams fuse into one big one.”
“What makes you think that?”
“The Priest’s goal is to promote racism and make the races battle each other. However, we have countless students of one race and they all wouldn’t be able to form one team. That means they have to cooperate without fighting with each other. However, in the end, only one team can win, which means they would’ve to fight each other eventually ruling out the possibility of cooperation from the beginning. That’s why I think the Priest will introduce quests that will let teams fuse with each other so he can really see the races battling each other to the full extent.”
Even Alvis had to pause and think, as this was something even he didn’t think about. However, it all made sense. Lia had analyzed the Priest’s nature and guessed his next move by thinking about his ultimate objective. She didn’t lose her calm and strategic mind, even though the situation was so dire. Alvis couldn’t suppress his grin as an eery feeling of pride spread through his chest.
“Well, I guess that makes sense,” Sekki said, being the next one to fully grasp what Lia meant. “Still, it’s a gamble.”
He is right. Even if it makes sense, we can’t be sure that the Priest will really do that.
“You are right, but I’m willing to take that gamble. But even if quests like that will never appear, we would just have to keep completing quests with the team’s member limit expansion as a reward until everyone is in one team.”
“Your plan sounds a lot more realistic now,” Sekki admitted, yet he wasn’t finished yet. “But what about the people’s hatred? I still think they won’t form a team together after everything that has happened.”
“We will force them into cooperation,” Lia said, her voice boasting with confidence. “If our team is by far the strongest, others wouldn’t have another choice but to cooperate if they want to survive. What I want to achieve is a team so dominant that they will put their hatred aside in order to survive. Of course, this implies that I think that their will to survive is stronger than their hatred.”
This was Lia’s plan. Her battle plan for conquering this hopeless situation. Everyone sat in silence, digesting her idea. Yet no one voiced any complaints, which meant that they agreed. Alvis, who had already guessed that Lia’s plan would somewhat look like this, spoke up.
“This is our only option to win whilst staying true to our principles,” he added, making clear that even if someone were to object, they had no other choice, anyway. “Lia, how do you want to form this student council team? We are too many to form one group. If I remember correctly, the member limit for a team consisting of people of different races is five.”
“You are right. That’s also the reason I brought Sekki and Dane here.” Everyone just looked at Lia, not understanding what she meant. However, she just continued with a smile. “For the greatest efficiency, I want to split the student council into several core groups. Those smaller teams can then recruit several members and thus become exponentially larger and later unite as one.”
“Ohh, this is smart!” Chao said, now understanding her idea. “We don’t have to worry about the members’ limit from the get-go if we were to form smaller core groups. If we would create one group with five members of the student council, we would have to complete a quest just to take in another student council member. But if we split the student council into several smaller groups, we can take in more members outside the student council and achieve our goal of building the strongest team way faster, while all these teams still act as one student council team.”
It was at least now, after Chao’s thorough explanation, that everyone got the idea.
“Let’s cut all the chitchat and get to the most important question,” Dane said, speaking up for the first time. “How are we going to split up so that the core groups are as strong as possible?”
“This is what we will discuss now.”