The next morning came with a relatively serene air among the players. As Rex and Zain both woke up from their infirmary beds, their eyes met by accident, and at the moment, both could tell the message that the other wanted to convey.

“Ready to lose?” Zain was the first to start the friendly banter with a grin on his face.

“Speak for yourself,” Rex replied with a smile of his own. “Come on.”

When the two emerged in the virtual world, the same cheering from the crowd once again greeted them. However, unlike with the other games, the scenery before them was a vastly plain and dull one, too artificial even for virtual world standards.

A single grey room, and two large block-like structures for two players, each with a name tag for the two of them. The boxes were made of glass for the inside to be seen, and a large computer was present in each one. But other than that, there wasn’t anything of note.

“Well, I guess this is why they put this final game right after the last,” Rex exclaimed. With something as simple as this, physical activities wouldn’t be an issue.

“Yeah, but this looks too simple,” Zain, on the other hand, showed clear signs of concern. “Just what are they planning?”

While the boys were questioning, a familiar voice sounded from above as usual to answer their question. However, it wasn’t the same digitized voice from a modified AIDE as before:

“Gooood morning, everyone! Welcome to the historical mark of this year’s Red-Black Course! I don’t know why, but that hunk of junk AIDE is on maintenance today, so I, Colonel Jack, am stepping in as commentator… kill me now this is too much for me to handle.”

Even if the last part was oddly unprofessional for an officer like Jack, the play-by-play was still greatly enjoyed by all (fake) people in the crowd, and even Rex and Zain let out a chuckle at the scene.

“What the hell is he doing up there?” Wiping a tear off his face, Rex asked.

“Beats me, but it’s funny,” answered Zain with a rare relaxed expression.

“Hey! No laughing, you two,” Jack, meanwhile, was red with anger and embarrassment. “Get in the boxes already!”

“Aren’t you supposed to explain the rules first?” Rex raised his eyebrows for further taunting. “You’re the ref today, right?”

“Hah…” with a reluctant sigh, Jack shook his head in hopelessness while rubbing his temples as if suffering from a chronic headache. “Fine, just get in the boxes.”

“Anyway… As the two contestants have mentioned, here are the rules for today’s game! But first, the two contestants, will you turn on the computers before you please?”

As Rex turned on the black box, on the screen flashed a series of colorful letters, in a way purposely made to entice the user to start clicking and not let go. Although, the title itself left much to be desired.

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“Gacha Hell?” Rex tilted his head in confusion. “Who in their right mind would name something like this?”

Nevertheless, the boy followed the instruction on the screen and clicked on the giant button in the middle that said “Start”.

Popping up on the monitor was a window, the number “100” written in the left corner, while in the middle was a single button once more, this time dubbed “Roll”.

Just when Rex was about to ask himself once more, Jack’s voice sounded on the box’s ceiling as a timely answer:

“As you might have guessed from the title, the fourth and final game of this year’s Red-Black Course is a gacha summon showdown! Both contestants will have one hundred tokens, called ‘rolls’ in their simulator, to attempt their game. The grand prize is the Super-Secret Rare item, the Golden Key! Within the allotted time of one hundred minutes, whoever successfully obtains the Golden Key will be the winner of this game!

Now, I’m sure you might wonder about the way to decide the victor, and I’m here to confirm all of it. Yes, there can be two winners in this game, in other words, if fate allows it, both of you can earn your freedom! But in contrast, it also means both of you can flop at the game! Who will destiny smile upon? Let’s find out here and now! Let the final game commence!”

A large horn echoed through both of the boxes, and opposite the computer arose a small platform with a giant digital clock on top, and the 100-minute countdown commenced.

Rex stood motionless. In every way that he looked at it, this game was decided purely based on luck. The odds that both of them would fail were certainly bigger, but at the same time, the chance that both of them would win was not zero. By a pure statistical fact, this shouldn’t be happening, not in the final game of an event that would decide their fates.

I refuse to believe this is something that they have decided, thought Rex. There has to be something else hidden within this game!

And since those thoughts were still present, the boy did not move, even though the merciless clock was still counting down by the second.

Zain, meanwhile, had the same ideas.

“A game decided based purely on luck?” The young man mumbled to himself. Like Rex, Zain would never expect there to be a game like this, and his experience of the previous events further confirmed this fact. However, the truth before him was still that the game had started, and he only had two choices at the moment: follow through or stop completely.

“Don’t underestimate me, wardens,” gritting his teeth in both anger and excitement, Zain said out loud. “If you’re so keen on leaving things to fate, then I’ll show you that even the heavens are on my side!”

Without any fear, the challenger pressed the button.

A flash of white light engulfed the screen. Nothing fancy like the motorcycle football match, nothing treacherous like the biome Go Fish game, nor it was out-of-this-world like the outer space game of tag. It was just a computer screen lighting up like any normal monitor one might see. And just like that underwhelming display, the result was equally unremarkable – only a single word popped up, and it was “FAILED”.

“Tch. Of course, I couldn’t get it in one try…” Zain clicked his tongue in disappointment as he reached out for the screen for a second roll. However, as he raised his arm forward, the sight of his body sent a shock to his core.

Zain knew of the feeling very well, even if he had only experienced it twice. His right arm was missing a wrist, leaving behind only the forearm and a hand floating about. However, when Zain tried to open and close his palm, the hand worked perfectly fine, as if the missing wrist was only an optical illusion.

The feeling was exactly like when Zain fused with Rex to form Bitleo.

“Oh, I forgot to explain one particular rule,” Jack’s conniving voice sounded from the speaker. “Every time you fail your roll, there would be a punishment – your avatar will slowly be disintegrated. Do not worry, my challengers, you will be completely fine in the real world, minus some unpleasant shocks, but… if you fail the game, your avatar will be completely deleted from our database. Meaning that you’ll be forever banned from participating in the Red-Black Course ever again!”