The air in the chamber felt heavier than before, pressing against my chest like an invisible weight.
The towering gates before us remained closed, their intricate patterns pulsing with faint blue light, as if waiting… watching.
My teammates stood nearby, their faces reflecting cautious relief at our reunion, but that sense of ease wouldn't last.
I stared at Tobias, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his expression thoughtful yet guarded.
Lily fiddled with her bowstring, her lips pursed in an unspoken question.
Marcus leaned lazily against a pillar, his casual demeanor betrayed by the way his fingers tapped impatiently against his daggers.
Evelyn, standing slightly behind them, clutched her staff tightly, her knuckles white.
And then it happened.
[Ding!]
[SYSTEM: PROVE YOUR WORTH.]
A sharp 'ding' echoed through the chamber, reverberating off the walls and piercing through my mind like a blade.
My breath hitched.
The others stiffened instantly.
[Ding!]
[ELIMINATE ALL OTHERS. ONLY ONE MAY ADVANCE.]
For a moment, none of us moved.
The words hung in the air like a death sentence, wrapping around us, suffocating, impossible to ignore.
“What the hell!?” Marcus' voice cut through the silence, sharp and disbelieving.
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His usual playful tone was gone.
Evelyn took a shaky step back, her eyes wide with horror.
“It… it wants us to fight each other?”
Tobias’ jaw tightened, his grip on the hilt of his claymore turning knuckles white.
“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “This has to be a mistake. We’re a team.”
But deep down, I knew better.
I could still see him, the figure on the throne, watching me, his eyes burning into mine.
No one else saw him.
No one else could feel the suffocating weight of his gaze.
He wanted this.
Lily broke the silence, her voice clipped and practical.
“We should stay calm.” But there was a sharp edge to her words, a tightness in her stance. “The system might be messing with us.”
Marcus laughed bitterly, running a hand through his hair.
“Messing with us? Lily, it just told us to kill each other. That’s not exactly a joke.” His eyes darted toward Tobias. “And let’s be real… we all know who’d come out on top.”
Tobias didn’t respond, but his gaze darkened.
I took a deep breath, forcing my voice to stay even.
“If it is messing with us, then we don’t have to follow it.”
[FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN TERMINATION.]
A tense silence fell over us.
Evelyn gasped softly.
“Termination? Does that mean...?”
“Death,” I said grimly.
The word tasted bitter on my tongue.
Lily shook her head, her voice rising.
“There has to be another way! Maybe if we wait long enough, it’ll-”
A sudden, grinding sound filled the chamber as the gates behind us began to shift, the intricate carvings unraveling and twisting into unfamiliar shapes.
The whole room pulsed with a dark energy, and in that moment, something inside me screamed that time was running out.
Tobias was the first to move, his eyes locking onto mine.
“We’re not doing this,” he said firmly, as if trying to will the situation away.
But beneath his calm, I could see the tension coiled in his muscles, ready, just in case.
Marcus, however, was already backing up, his daggers glinting in the dim light.
“Look, I like you guys and all, but I’m not dying here.”
Lily’s bow was half-raised, her gaze flickering between each of us.
“Marcus, don’t-”
The air between us grew thick with uncertainty, fear creeping into every corner.
I could see it in their eyes, doubt, hesitation.
No one wanted to be the first to strike, but everyone was painfully aware of the stakes.
My mind raced with different ways to survive here.
But none seemed to click.
The system wanted us to tear each other apart.
Was that really the only option?
Then, as if sensing my hesitation, the figure on the throne stirred.
His voice, a whisper only I could hear, slithered through my mind.
“Failure... Death.”
I swallowed hard.
We were trapped.
The only question was…
Who would make the first move?