In the ten minutes that had passed since my fight with the foreign girl, three more people had made it to the goal.

That brought the total up to five, and lowered the number of remaining slots down to seven. I kept up a steady jogging pace to balance out speed and stamina. I had been moving through the ravine for nearly half an hour. Surely I had to be getting close to the end by now.

Running through the ravine brought back memories of the obstacle courses I would have to run through in the program. Those in charge made sure we were as fit physically as we were mentally. The only thing those outside of Genesis really knew about it was what the goddess had told us. Namely that games were everything inside that city. For one to be able to conquer it, they would no doubt need both brain and brawn. So for every one of the mental exercises we went through, daily physical training went right along with it.

In some instances, the two would be combined. One example was forcing us to complete puzzles as part of the obstacles in courses. The experience from that had certainly come in handy back at the maze.

My reminiscing soon ended as I spotted a plank bridge in the distance. It seemed a bit unstable, but if that was my only way forward then I would have to take it. It seemed two other paths converged there as well so I would have to hurry in order to avoid any unwelcome guests showing up as I crossed.

As I ran past the converging point, a sudden voice spoke up from behind me. “It seems you’re still alive.”

Acting on instinct, I drew my knife and turned around in one swift motion. Had someone been waiting here to ambush me? But as the surprise subsided and I saw the owner of the voice come out of hiding from behind a bush, I relaxed. Standing before me was the familiar face of Fifty-six.

“It would seem so.” I replied. “Have you run into any of the others?”

Fifty-six shook his head. “Not yet. Killed two people on the way here though.”

“I see.” I said. “Well, we might as well keep moving. No telling how many are ahead of us.”

“Agreed.”

The two of us walked up to the bridge and inspected it. It seemed somewhat worn, but it would likely hold the two of us. I cautiously stepped onto the first plank. It held tight and I kept on going. Fifty-six soon followed behind. After a few steps, the bridge continued to hold and we relaxed a bit as we walked along.

As we walked, I did everything in my power not to look down. I could already tell from a glance it was a long drop. I didn’t need to be reminded of that by getting a bird’s eye view of how impossible my odds of survival were if I fell from here.

“So where did you get the knife?” Fifty-six asked. “You find one in a treasure chest?”

I shook my head. “Someone who attacked me had it. I took it from them.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. “What about you? Did you get anything from a treasure chest?”

In response, Fifty-six pulled out a folded up pole with a bladed tip. “I found this collapsible spear right before exiting the maze. There was also a roll of bandages I took from one of the two I killed.”

Bandages would be useful if one of us got injured, though the spear was far more useful in my eyes. There was no better protection against injury than having something to prevent injury in the first place.

We finally made it halfway across the bridge when suddenly, my ears picked up on something. Fifty-six seemed to hear it as well. Both of us turned around and saw a very unwelcome surprise. Three examinees running straight towards the bridge.

“Over there! Hurry, let’s get them while we can!” one of them called out.

A sense of dread came over me. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to cut the ropes and lose their only way forward, but if they all went on the bridge together, I wasn’t sure it would hold all of the weight. “Seems we weren’t the only ones who thought of teaming up.” I commented.

“Forget about that. We need to move!”

The two of us picked up the pace as we hurried across the bridge. Unfortunately, our pursuers seemed to lack the hindsight and all chased after us. Perhaps they suspected we would cut the ropes after crossing, but regardless the bridge wasn’t going to hold for long at this rate. I could already see the rope beginning to thin out and tear slightly.

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“Damnit.” Fifty-six cursed as he brought out his spear and unfolded it. “To think I have to waste it like this.”

I glanced behind and saw Fifty-six hurl the spear at the three people chasing us. The one in front saw it coming and ducked, but the one behind him had no time to react and was impaled. His body tethered slightly before falling over the edge and plummeting to his death.

On the bright side, there was now one less person’s weight for the bridge to hold. The bad side however was that Fifty-six had now lost his weapon and the bridge still seemed like it wasn’t going to last more than another ten seconds.

A sudden tearing sound soon shortened my estimation to five seconds.

“Hurry!” I shouted. There wasn’t much further to go. We could make it. We had to make it.

And then the snap came.

The bridge began to fall towards the cliffside in front of us. I reached for the rope, but it slipped through my fingers. Gravity worked its magic and I began to fall. Fifty-six had managed to grab the rope in time and reached out his hand towards me. But it was too late, I had missed my chance and was about to plummet to a height I didn’t even want to know the measurement of.

Once I reached the bottom, I would die. That was it. The past ten years. All of the struggling I had endured. The pain I suffered. The tears I shed. It would all be for nothing.

As if I was about to let that happen.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my grappling hook. I took quick aim near the edge of the cliff and pulled the trigger. The claw shot out and flew through the air before lodging itself into the rocky cliffside.

I fell at an angle with the wire and managed to land with my feet on the cliffside, preventing my body from crashing against it. Thankfully, the grappling hook seemed to be holding my weight just fine. I could see Fifty-six hanging from the bridge as it dangled at the side. I pressed the switch on my grappling gun and it began to reel in the wire and pull me up. At the same time, Fifty-six began climbing.

I couldn’t see the other two who had been chasing us, so I could only assume they had fallen and wouldn’t be bothering us any further. Good riddance. Dealing with other examinees was bad enough without any of them being stupid enough to put both us and themselves in danger.

When we finally climbed up safely to the top, both Fifty-six and I took a moment to catch our breath. I for one was content with never having a near death experience like that ever again. If nothing else however, the broken bridge meant it would be next to impossible for anyone still behind us to follow after.

Fifty-six looked to the side we had come from. “The others aren’t going to be too happy with us if they come by that bridge.”

“Then they should have gotten here sooner.”

After a couple minutes of rest, both Fifty-six and I got to our feet. I took a quick look at the terminal and saw the number of people who had reached the goal was still at five. Reassuring, but we still couldn’t afford to dawdle.

We hadn’t kept moving for more than twenty seconds however when a sudden scream echoed up ahead. Fifty-six and I shared a brief glance before running on ahead to see what was the cause.

Was it a trap? Another examinee? Whatever it was, someone was likely dead. And while I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of seeing what had done them in, knowing it ahead of time was much more preferable than stumbling upon it and falling victim ourselves.

The two of us turned a corner before we were greeted by a surprising and unsettling sight. A girl was laid out on the floor, covered in a pool of blood. Standing over her however was a familiar face. One of our companions from the program. Fifty-three.

Fifty-three turned to us and gave an innocent smile. “Ah, so you two finally made it. That’s good.”

Fifty-six stared at the corpse lying next to Fifty-three. “I see you’ve been thinning down the competition.”

“It’s the easiest way to ensure we pass.” she shrugged. “Though I don’t know what some of these people were thinking when they took this exam. By the end, this one was begging for her life. As if anyone would spare an enemy.”

I kept my gaze away from the dead girl. “So shall we keep going?”

“Works for me.” Fifty-three said. “Let’s hurry up and-”

It all happened in an instant.

A glint of silver caught my eye as it came flying down towards Fifty-three. As it came closer, the object revealed itself to be a spinning one-handed axe. Before Fifty-six or I could even utter a syllable to warn her, the axe lodged itself into her back. Fifty-three stood still for what seemed like forever before coughing up blood. Her body leaned forward and she collapsed as a pool of her blood spread out around her, much like her victim lying next to her.

There was no saving her. She was dead.

As I tried to process what had just happened, a figure leaped down from the area above us. Fifty-six and I jumped back as the new arrival landed next to Fifty-three’s corpse. It was a man seemingly in his thirties. He had messy black hair and a vertical scar over his right eye that he had clearly gotten long before this exam. A second axe, similar to the one that had killed Fifty-three, was in his right hand.

But the most notable thing about this stranger wasn’t his appearance. It was the scent coming off of him. He reeked of blood. And he had the stains on his clothes to prove it was fresh blood too.

"That makes eight." the man said as he pulled out the other axe from our companion’s back. He then turned our way and pointed the blood-dripping axe our way. "Now which of you two wants to be number nine?"