The realization immediately gets her thoughts racing. That was definitely Magia. Can commoner prisoners here use Magia too? No. It’ll increase the chances of them escaping. Alyss won’t blind sight that last escapade. If she’s any competent at her job, she’ll definitely come to the conclusion that she should subdue them.

Then, is he actually an examinee disguised as a prisoner? Lilith pulls out their map to check. There aren’t any green dots where they’re at. Only orange. What does this even mean? What is his Magia all about? When was it placed on them? What is its activation condition because she didn’t see any visuals of Magia being used the entire time.

Did his mind control mess with their memories? No... No. It doesn’t seem that way. She still recalls everything with perfect clarity, just with a different look to Kusma Boy as a big titted Hostess Lady. She isn’t entirely sure, but there’s one thing she knows for certain, they got completely marinated good. She can harp over these questions later, because there’s a more pressing issue at hand. They’re fucking broke. They can’t even start games with other prisoners.

They first got to come up with contingency plans on what they should do next so she’s trying to consult Cyan,

“You reckon there is an alternative?” because the clues are there, she may have some ideas. Turning her attention towards him, he isn’t listening to her. He doesn’t seem to have heard her. Cyan’s been quiet the entire time. He hasn’t gotten up from the chair yet, hanging his head listlessly and letting his fringe fall over his eyes to cast a shadow over the bridge of his nose. He’s taking the loss hard. Knowing him, he’s probably blaming the entire thing on himself right now. So, Lilith adds to the lack of his reply,

“It’s okay, Cyan.” he still isn’t responding her. Urk. They can’t proceed like that. She first has to cheer him up. Lilith closes their gaps, stopping beside him so she’s certain he’ll feel her presence to spring her arms out. At that, he finally looks up with a somewhat annoyed expression as if he’s saying, what are you doing, so she puts on her brightest voice to exclaim,

“Hug!”

That immediately worsens his scowl, “what the fuck? Why?”

“Because you’re sulking.”

“So? How does that even got to do with anything?” he’s brushing her off with a click of his tongue, “Let me sulk! I just lost our chance to pass this trial, I think I deserve to sulk!” she knew it. He is blaming it on himself.

“Hugging will make you feel better when you’re sad.” he’s getting bristly,

“I’m not you!” he isn’t the type to relent like this so she’s got to change up her tactics,

“Then make me feel better, because I’m sad.”

“As if you are!” she is! Seeing him so dejected makes her feel bad too, so she’s getting a bit insistent,

“Just do it. My arms are getting sore.” he’s grunting as he gets up. Stumbling forward to flop his body against her like a seal. Burying his face into her neck, he’s frustrated, subconsciously scrunching the fabric of her sweater so tightly, his hands are shaking a little. So, Lilith wraps her arms around him, petting circles on his back,

“See? Doesn’t this make you feel better?” until he’s untensing his body and he isn’t slugging around like a bag of Jello anymore. But he isn’t admitting to it, instead, he apologizes very earnestly,

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“But it’s my fault. I lost the money. I should’ve seen it coming. I underestimated this game because I got cocky over our first easy victory. This is different from a gambling movie. This is a test trial and we’re up against others with Magia abilities unknown to us. I should’ve found it suspicious that a commoner would even agree to a game with us when their freedom is on the line!”

“It was inevit-able.”

“Inevitable.” at least he’s still in the mood to correct her pronunciation.

“Whatever. We got completely outplayed right from the beginning. You tried your best.” in fact, she would’ve been demolished even harder if she was the one playing. She didn’t even know what’s going on half the match. She doesn’t have the aptitude for words and mind games like Cyan.

“Still-” he’s going to contradict her again, so she stops him before he could. Grabbing him by the upper arms, she straightens him, diverting the topic aside,

“I think there may be something else we can do.”

“What can we do? We’ve got no more money to even initiate games with other players.” he gestures with a flick of his chin,

“Besides, it’s late.” the hall has significantly quietened. All the VIPs are leaving and the prisoners have huddled against the walls. Preparing to turn in for the night. The Felmane adventurer on the stage just changed shifts with another. Yawning as he walks away. Now, noises from the outside can actually seep in. Rattling the building with late running trains. But what’s intriguing her most, is that, some of the prisoners are heading towards a door. Disappearing behind it. She brings up,

“There must be some way for players to make a comeback even if they ran out of money. The exams last for a month, we’re hardly a week in and majority of the prize pool has already shifted to the second hall.” to get his head back into the game, he isn’t thinking straight right now so she’s got to instigate,

“So, what happens to the examinees who comes in late, when the prize pool in the first hall has already dried up? There’s no way Alyss expects them to be able to fork out the 5mil entry fee on their own.” Cyan’s contradicting her,

“She can simply choose to not give a shit. The trials don’t have to be fair. If you come in late and is met with a disadvantageous situation, then, that’s your problem. Why else do you think examinees fight each other? If they can’t get the map themselves, they simply have to steal from someone who’s already obtained it.”

“But aside from being an adventurer, Alyss is also a business woman.” from all the information that she’s able to gather thus far, there are several things that doesn’t add up. Lilith prompts,

“Think about it, compared to other trials, this trial is significantly more expensive. Alyss forked out 500mil to act as a prize pool. In the off-chance scenario where a VIP or a rouge examinee wins the trial and decides, fuck it, I’m keeping the money, Alyss wouldn’t be receiving anything in return. Why would she take these unnecessary risks?”

Cyan’s finding his reinvigoration now,

“You’re suggesting, she wouldn’t organize something this extensive if she doesn’t gain anything from it.” He’s seeing her rationale,

“People don’t get filthy rich by being nice and generous.” Lilith successfully distracted him from harping over their loss,

“Yup! The clues were there all along. The thing the escapee said, the prisoners, and even Kusma boy just now. It all points to one thing, Alyss wants something from this trial. Something that’s against the law, and she’s found a loop hole.”

“Oh. Fuck.” Cyan’s finally on the same page as her, gripping beneath his chin, “Damn. If that’s what she’s really doing, it’s fucked up.” she heaves a sigh of relief, looks like he’s finally back to himself again. Putting on her brightest smile, she suggests,

“But it also means, there is a way for us to keep playing!” and tugs him towards the door beside the stage where she’s seen other prisoners disappearing into,

“Let’s just go confirm our suspicions first. We can think of our next steps after.” it’s an unassuming shabby wooden entrance with a card reader beside it. Copying what she’s seen the other prisoners do earlier, she scans her bracelet against it to unlock. Opening a portal to a dimly lit bar. Spotlights, flashing across the floor. She glances up at the glass ceiling as the door closes behind them, asking,

“Are we in Lantika now?” Despite the interior’s still decorated in typical Felmane fashion. They’re underwater. The curved walls are supported by molded steel pillars shaped like octopus tentacles, collating to a Kraken looking wall ornament behind the bar counter. They’re heading towards it. Its mouth is open, acting as shelves to display the myriad of bottled alcohol as well as shady looking vials of various glowing colors labelled with Adesinine, Rubato Roots and the likes. Those are controlled drugs. Specifically, the addictive ones that have no other purpose but to get the user high. And the bartender, a strikingly beautiful young woman with scales, wearing shells for a top, is serving it. She’s a merfolk.

Cyan’s looking beyond windows,

“No. I don’t think so.” the water’s pitch black aside from the luminous sea life around them. The building’s drifting. Actually, no. They aren’t exactly in a building. It’s more akin a glass submarine. Some bizarre looking creatures just swam past them. They look like white glowy salamanders, except with webbed claws, armored spine and overgrown fins cascading like a silken dress in the waves. It’s quite pretty actually. Cyan points to the shiny anemone things they’re chomping down on, bubbling with blue orbs once they’re bitten,

“Those are Lampsias and the creatures that are eating them are called ghost dragons.” Cyan says, “and they can only be found in the deep seas in the far southern regions surrounding the Desolands.” Desolands, desolands... She’s trying to recall the name, gripping beneath her chin in reminiscence so Cyan tells her,

“That’s the southernmost continent currently unclaimed by the Elite Ten guilds.” Right. She remembers! They don’t really get talked about much. Killian’s told her, they have their own societal structure there, and any outsiders attempting to stake claims would be the same as declaring war,

“Lantika’s in the north just beneath Athens. The oceans there aren’t that deep.” he gestures to the trench walls surrounding them, fission with giant white iridescent shells,

“But if we try to leave this building, the water pressure will instantly crush our bones. That and the ghost dragons will swarm you like piranhas.” well, at least that’ll dissuade the prisoners from running away. Doesn’t look like they’re keen to escape though, because aside from the door they came in from. There aren’t any other exits. Maybe that’s why they all are kind of gloomy. Looking like they’ve given up on life despite how lively the music’s playing. Some of them, even cradled themself in a fetal position in the corner. A few others are on the seats, face in their palms. Ghastly pale. A piece of paper laid out in front of them. Whereas a handful are by the counter, signing some contract before leaving to go back into the trial hall. No one here is exactly in a partying mood.

She’s able to infer,

“This place is shady?”

“Extremely.” Cyan gestures with his eyes towards the merfolk bartender and points to his own neck. He’s asking Lilith to look at the choker necklace she’s wearing,

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“She’s trafficked. Desoland’s currently ran by rebellion guilds.” next he brings her attention to the hologram above the Kraken shelf. It’s a chart, an auction graph probably. Their suspicions were right after all.

She is anticipating this. But what she hasn’t anticipated is Alyss being brazen about it. Lilith wonders,

“Won’t Alyss get into trouble?” they stop before the bar counter,

“It’s illegal to harvest, but it isn’t illegal if someone willingly sells. The prisoners can keep playing like this. If she knows the right connections. She won’t be in trouble. It’s not illegal to link portals to a random submarine in Desoland seas. That’s all she can be charged with.” and the fact that it’s in an exam trial can only mean, Felmane has a hand in this. Is this meant to be some sort of a poetic justice or something? Because they're doing the exact same thing as the Rebellion guild they've caught. Then Cyan sighs, slipping himself onto a rotating stool, gesturing the Merfolk Lady forward to ask,

“So, how does this organ trading thing work?” but before she’s able to say anything, Lilith waves her away,

“No!” this isn’t what she intended. Cyan shrugs,

“When you suggested there's a contingency plan, that’s what you implied, right? I’ll get it back regardless.”

“Of course not!” she snaps before admitting,

“I actually haven’t thought this through.” she just needed something quick to stop him from sulking,

“I suspected that it may be a thing, but I don’t want you to sell your own organs!” then consciously chooses to omit the next few sentences. She was actually thinking of threatening another prisoner into selling their organs for them. Preferably a scummy one so she won’t feel bad about doing it. But judging from the sunglasses wearing bouncers with redacted adventurers' rings guarding four sides of the room, she’ll probably get bodied the moment she tries to start a fight. So, she isn’t voicing it out.

Instead, she flicks her head up to look at the chart. It’s incredibly extensive, a heart or brain is worth 1 million, a lung, 500k, a liver, 300k, a kidney 200k, eyeballs 100k each. The conditions are written beneath, the money’s loaned out first, and if repayment isn’t made within the next three days. The organs are then taken. Guess that’s how Kusma boy lost his eye. Maybe that’s why the prisoner tried to escape, he didn't want to fork out what he wagered. She’s intentionally ignoring Cyan’s attempts at persuading her how this trial is basically designed for him and it’ll be stupid if they didn’t exploit his regenerative abilities to give them an edge, to instead suggest,

“What about savings, your family must be rich.” At that, Cyan defeatedly flops his chin on the table, realizing that she isn’t listening to him,

“My shit stain old man controls all the finances.”

“He won’t let you take any out to help you pass the trial?”

“Hah!” he scoffs, “he’ll probably sell my organs himself if he could, not even for money at that. Just so he can cut it out of me.” he’s going on again, trying to bring back to the original topic,

“I don’t understand why are you making this so convoluted when the solution is already presented to us!”

“And I don’t understand why you are such a masochist!”

“Stop throwing around that word as if you know the meaning!”

“I do know the meaning, and the meaning is you!” she needs to come up with different alternatives quick. There is one, speaking over his rebuttal,

“Alyss!” she declares, “I have Alyss’s number.” pulling out her phone, she slips onto a chair next to him, making sure she adds a few cute emoticons behind her request of a small loan of $10k to really strengthen her argument. Staring at the page to conveniently pretend she isn’t hearing Cyan’s relentless persuading, until she receives her reply, ‘Killian informed me not to assist you in any trial related events.’

It instantly makes her yelp,

“He’s cucking me! He’s actually cucking me!”

“Who?”

“Killian!” flipping her phone towards him so Cyan’s able to see the conversation too. She rage texts Killian the screenshot, ‘why would you do this?’ and ‘give me allowance. I’m broke.’ To which, he only answers with a sticker of a cartoon character sticking out his tongue and pulling an eye down with a finger. Leaving her on read after that no matter how hard she’s spamming him. That’s childish. He’s so childish! Defeatedly, Lilith shoves the phone back into her pocket, it’s starting to make her frustrated,

“Being poor sucks!” she shouldn’t have blown all her money on clothes and miscellaneous decorations for her room the moment she gets them.

“Well, beggars can’t be choosers,” Lilith stops him as he’s waving for the bartender again,

“Why are you so keen on selling your organs!” forcing his arm back onto the table but he’s beginning to resist,

“It’s not like we have any other choices at the moment!” so Lilith is gripping down harder,

“But I don’t want you to sell your organs!” it’ll upset her if he did. It’s already upsetting her. They’re causing a commotion, drawing prying gazes to themselves from the depressed prisoners, some of them shouting at them to shut the fuck up, but Cyan’s just giving them a half-hearted middle finger whilst he continues arguing,

“It’s my organs, I’m deciding what I want to do with it!”

“No, it’s not!”

“What do you mean it’s not!”

“I’m your friend so it’s our organs.” he’s starting to shove a hand onto her face, pushing her away by the cheek,

“Screw off. This isn’t communism!” she’s resisting, accidentally yelling at the approaching bartender lady to piss off that the poor woman looks like she’s at a complete loss. She’s just doing her job, so she really didn’t deserve that. But Lilith is more inclined to threaten,

“If you’re selling your organs then I’m going to sell mine!”

“Why would you sell your shitty peasant organs when you can’t even regrow them.” that was so rude!

“No you! You’re the peasant!” Cyan’s starting to get agitated too,

“Fuck you. Are you picking a fight, peasant?” he’s clutching his fingers, conjuring a swirl of Magia and she’s reluctant to back down,

“Bring it, peasant!” adding stakes to it, “if I win, you’re not selling your organs, no matter what!” grappling his elbow in a joint lock, ready to throw him over her shoulder if he attempts to strike. But both of them are abruptly halted by a familiar voice remarking,

“I won’t start a fight here if I were you.” to get them to retort,

“Stay out of this, peasant!” before they even realize who it is. The boy jerks backwards, whining,

“That was so mean! And here I was happy to see familiar faces! I was just trying to warn you, the management isn't very happy with you right now.” that statement makes her halt to observe the redacted ringed bouncers he’s referring to,

“The no violence rule is taken pretty seriously apparently.” They are starting to get hostile with the looming stares. Goddammit. Their auras feel imposing. They're adventurers that are definitely out of their league. So, she composes herself and lets Cyan go. He dispels his Magia too. They finally turn their attention towards the speaker.

He changed his clothes. Now he’s wearing something completely different from what they’ve met him in. A tacky plague doctor hat with goggles and oversized trench coat with Felmane’s Sigil stitched onto the breast pocket. The low-quality kind that’s marketed to tourists. Made from cheap fabrics and flaying threads. He’s even bought a plastic cane to go along. Lilith can’t help but to get detracted,

“How much did you pay for that?” studying him up and down. It’s that friendly Redhead they’ve played the freeze tag trial with.

“I don’t know. I think a little over $300?”

“You got ripped off.” then she immediately connects the dots,

“Do you have money?” he nods, bringing up his inventory, he has exactly $10k,

“I just got here actually. I don’t really know what’s going on so I decided I should first explore. Didn’t expect to run into you guys again so quickly. I thought you were friends, but looks like I was wrong?” she isn’t answering his question, instead, she’s sinking her teeth deep into this golden opportunity,

“You have all your cards? And have you collected your number tag?” Redhead’s getting a bit overwhelmed by her sudden overzealous questions,

“Number tag?” digging through his pocket, he retrieves a circular badge with 23 printed on it, “you mean this?”

“Yeah.” then he’s going through the hologram buttons, manifesting his cards to show them, he has a perfect set of AJQK. She quickly proposes,

“Wanna team up?” slapping a hand over Cyan’s lips when he’s voicing his objections. She knows what he wants to say, if they teamed up, then their total amount they need to make will be raised to 15mil. They’re already struggling to keep 100k. It beats the alternative of Cyan selling his organs so she is more than willing to take the shot. But Redhead’s guarding the goal,

“You two already messed this trial up, didn’t you.” He knows!

“N-no.” she unconvincingly declines and forces her brightest voice to say,

“We worked well as a team.” yeah. From the face he’s making right now. Redhead is definitely unconvinced,

“You need money, huh?” turning away, he’s puffed up his cheeks, muttering like a fish under his breath,

“I don’t even know your names.” Despite his airy, light-hearted demeanors, he actually isn’t as easy going as he looks, and not nearly as gullible. What’s in it for me. Is what he’s basically saying. What can she offer him? Fuck. They’re completely broke. Redhead’s right to be skeptical. Unlike Rufus’s trial where it’s beneficial to work together. Alyss’s trial encourages betrayal and solidarity.

Cyan’s finally relenting, hopping on to reroute her trainwreck of a negotiation. With a sigh, he offers,

“We can give you information about this trial and the players. We’ve already played against some of them. You can observe however you like, but, without actual experience, you’ll end up broke like us.” he gestures to the auction board with a thumb,

“This trial punishes trial and errors. Unless you’re willing to sell an organ or two, then I believe, even our failure, will be valuable information to you.”

“But how will I know your information is going to offer valuable insight to me? Your skill sets seem more suitable for physical stuff. You two don’t have utility spells to help with this trial. What guarantees you wouldn’t just end up as dead weights? If I teamed up with you, we basically need 3x the amount to pass the first hall.” Urg. Of course, he’s aware.

Lilith makes the argument,

“But it’ll be easier on the second hall. We can just buy one map and share it. Our end goal would still be 100mil unchanged.” he isn’t very impressed with her reply,

“That is provided that we pass the first hall.” then he ponders a little, eyeing Cyan up and down,

“I want your body as back up.”

“At least buy me dinner first.” that’s pretty funny, so Lilith can’t help but to follow up,

“Really? That’s all it takes?” only to have him shove a hand in her face to push her away,

“No, if it’s you, then you got to buy me a castle, a sports car and a blimp.”

“Why the blimp?”

“I want my face on it and banners flying, fuck you Odion Blight, fuck you Carmine Blight.”

“Gold digger.” but Redhead’s getting lost, “Wha?” before he realizes,

“Oh. Pssh!” waving his hand at him, laughing a little then correcting himself to bring the conversation back on track before they’re distracted by stupidity,

“I meant your innards. You’re a Demigod descendent. I want the reassurance that you’ll wager a kidney or something if you lost all my money. It shouldn’t matter to you. You’ll get it back in a few hours regardless.” Cyan’s serious again,

“How’s that worth it anymore? I can just ditch your ass and sell my organs now.”

“No, you’re not selling anything.” she doesn’t like this trade anymore. Redhead’s the enemy. But Lilith gets cut off,

“I think you’ll find me useful. I specialize in utility Magia, so I’m sure I can cook something up. Besides, if we win the matches, you don’t even need to sell anything.” then Redhead realizes in the middle of his own persuasion

“Actually. Come to think of it. Isn’t it much more efficient if you ditched her for now and we team up? It doesn’t matter in the grander scheme of things since we just need one map in the end.” he has the most leverage here,

“Ok.” he proposes,

“Ditch her, team up with me instead.”

“Fuck you!” she snaps, “you just want to use Cyan!”

“And he wants to use me.” Redhead nonchalantly shrugs, “it’s mutual.” God, she wants to attack him. She hates to admit but Redhead does have a point. She’s the most useless in this exchange. She can’t regenerate organs, she isn’t letting Cyan make his own decisions, and she isn’t good at mind games either. She doesn’t actually have bargaining rights. She’s the deadweight! She doesn't even have a good comeback so she’s just wordlessly looking at Cyan.

He isn’t declining the suggestion, in fact, he’s actually contemplating his proposal. After a few moments of pondering, he extends a hand,

“Alright. Let’s shake on it.” he’s agreeing to it! Prick!

“But she gets to tag along for as long as we’re in this first hall.”

“Why?”

“Emotional support.”

“It’s cool with me.” Redhead’s raising an eyebrow at that, asking her, “though will you be okay with that?”

“Of course not!” but Cyan’s completely ignoring her to persuade,

“Her opinion doesn’t matter. You’re making the deal with me.” and she’s unable to retaliate simply on the fact that he’s absolutely right. Instead. She can only puff her cheeks as she watches Redhead take Cyan’s hand. Giving him a firm shake.

Being useless sucks... She can’t even tell Redhead to piss off or stop Cyan from making the deal because he’s the only solution she has right now to keep Cyan from getting hurt.

At that, Cyan glances around the room, observing the countless despairing prisoners and decides it’s too much of a crowd,

“First, we’ll need a find a quieter place to talk.”

“Come with me then!” Redhead enthusiastically says, reaching into his pocket to retrieve a key card to wave in their faces,

“I’ve got a private room.” at least he’s thoroughly prepared.

Lilith sullenly follows them towards the door they’ve came in from. Seems like the portal’s connected to multiple areas depending on the input that’s being scanned, because it’s opening to a hotel room of Alyss’s Casino. It’s a cozily decorated space with industrial pipes running through the ceilings. Exposed florescent bulbs hanging from it. Two twin sized bed in each corner, a sofa tucked behind the metal coffee table. Behind it, a brick wall carved open with a circular port looking window outlooking the residential level of Duskburn. A myriad of mechanical decorations of little clockwork animals clustering every shelf. But she’s too preoccupied to tinkle with them, cute as they may be.

She feels so awkwardly out of place now. A wave of different thoughts running through her mind. Half of them accusatory, whereas the other half is desperately trying to come up with ideas to not be a complete baggage in this trial. If she wants the right to continue this trial with Cyan then she can’t be useless.

Urg. Fuck it! Agitatedly messing up her hair. Until she’s figured out a way to be more useful, she’s got to accept that this is the best alternative. The only thing she can do right now, is to aid them to make sure they don’t lose anymore matches.