“I would’ve asked how you found us, but I’m more curious to why you’re here,” Luxeour’s captain, or if she even was that in the middle of the apocalypse, Michelle Tan asked.
Zeifar could almost choke on the smoke that filled the room.
“I’m only paying a visit to ask a little question. I won’t waste time, we’ve both got little of it,” she smiled.
Michelle raised her eyebrows and took a look at the kid in front of her, at least 10 years younger, and clearly a delinquent. There was nothing ‘tame’ about Zeifar Nadir, it felt like sitting right before a lion in its own den—not getting attacked only because the lion wasn’t in the mood. Michelle chuckled, wondering how they had not recruited this little gem.
“Go on, indeed little time it is that we have,” she said.
“I only wonder why three strays ended up in my home,” Zeifar asked, a mocking tone.
Michelle felt the air become a bit uncomfortable,
“What do you mean, may I ask?”
“You know what I mean,” the girl laughed, “I’m asking why the animals abandoned their own pack’s cubs, though I think I know the answer.”
“Are you calling us animals?” Michelle’s eyes darkened—disrespect, of all things, was not tolerable.
“I meant it as a compliment, calm down miss!” Zeifar laughed again, the mockery in her voice clearer than water.
“Disrespectful little brat.”
The girl stopped laughing and gave the lady a look of fake-hurt, “Aww, look at that! I insulted the all-loving Ms. Tan—oh gee, what do I do now?”
“So what do you think my answer was, brat?” the lady asked.
“Oh we both know what it is—you people don’t keep weak ones, it’s like discarding paper to you guys,” the girl laughed, not the slightest humor in her eyes, “Now call me a brat again the next time we meet—oh wait! Silly me,” she tapped herself on the head, dropping the obviously fake smile, “We won’t meet a next time,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Is that a threat?” Michelle asked, laughing.
“No dear me, I wouldn’t threaten a senior!” Zeifar shook her head, opening the door to leave, and looked back one more time, “I was just predicting the future. Have a nice day, Ms. Tan.”
The door slammed shut, leaving Michelle alone as she dialed a number,
“Hello…yes, yes, they’re with those losers—I-I’m stuttering? No I, I’m just a little distracted,” she said, “Yes, they’re alive, mhm…”
“…Dispatch the hit-team? Ah…alright.”
****
“Young Lady Nadir,” the voice on the phone said.
“Yes?” she replied.
“I see them. Should I shoot?”
“They’re here already?” she asked, yawning, and peeked out from the rooftop-garden. Indeed, there were extremely ridiculous looking assassins surrounding her house.
“You three,” she pointed at her strays—ahem, ex-Luxeours, who flinched in surprise.
“Your ex-Cap’n sent assassins to kill you,” she continued, as if it was nothing new, “Should I kill the assassins?”
Raymond yelled, his eyes as big as suns, “What the hell—OF COURSE NOT—”
“Then what do you suggest, pretty-boy?” Zeifar asked, clearly bored.
Raymond went silent and stared at her, astonished—she was serious? Why would Michelle Tan…actually, that was more like her. Michelle was well known to consider those who were not useful to her as trash.
It was only by luck that she had not killed him at the beginning of the first Round.
Only luck.
“What the heck…no—”
“Do it,” Xavier yawned, scrolling on his phone.
The best of Luxeour was quite similar to his seniors in some ways. One of them was his ruthlessness. He had been expecting something like this to happen the moment they had shaken hands with Royale.
Even in the apocalypse, stupid things like jealousy and hatred managed to find ways to continue living like a plague.
To their surprise, Zeifar began laughing.
“You really are perfect matches for my team,” she shook her head and called her guard, “Hmm, throw them in the storehouse in the backyard and wait for me.”
****
Zeifar slowly shut the door to the dark little storehouse as one of her guards (or assassins) handed her a pair of gloves.
“I wonder what kind of assassins are you, to get caught by my home guards?” she asked, clicking a picture of the tied-up group crammed in the small space.
“Oh right,” she pulled down the fabric around one’s mouth and smiled, “Continue.”
The man gave her a menacing glare and said, “Everything you’re saying is being recorded, you know.”
“I know,” she sighed and glanced at one of her guards, “You know how it goes, nothing goes out of here, ‘kay?”
The guard nodded and motioned to another one, both left.
“Now,” Zeifar tossed a blade into the air, “Let’s get to business,” the blade landed directly on the assassin’s leg, “What brings you all here?”
****
Zac glanced round the enormous drawing room. Something felt a little off.
“You’re acting weird, anything wrong?” Kazerin asked, handing him a cup of tea.
“I dunno…” he muttered, “I swear I heard screams…”
****
“Ahh, Ms. Tan,” the voice tauntingly laughed on the phone, “It seems your assassins aren’t quite…hmm, how should I phrase it?” Zeifar hummed, “Strong-willed?”
Michelle Tan only replied, “What did you do to them, brat?”
“Huh, not much don’t worry!” Zeifar said, “They’re still alive.”
There was an icy silence which followed the girl’s words—like the drop of a metal object in dead-silence. Cold, freezing, and heartless.
“…still alive?”
“Mhm, anyways—bye!” the phone beeped, the brat had hung up.
CRACK!
Michelle’s phone slammed on the wall, cracking due to impact.
She could not care less about the assassins—it was the failure of her task that was the problem.
“They won’t kill me, right?”
****
“Y-You—why’re you covered in blo—”
“Why are you in my room?!”
Zeifar and Mika stared at each other with equally horrified faces.
“I—I’m allowed to visit okay?” Mika reasoned, “But,” he gave her a questioning look, “There aren’t any monsters in Dubai right now so whose blood—”
“None of your business, what do you want?” Zeifar cut off.
“…you should probably wash up first, I’ll wait,” he said, shutting the curtains.
****
“All of you?” Zeifar asked, staring at them all.
They all wanted to go outside, like children asking their mom to let them go to the park.
Nodding aggressively, Adrian said, “I need to go!”
Zeifar sighed, she’d locked Mika in her room for this, “Fine, cars in the garage—take any except for Tora, be back by dinner.”
Tora was her favorite, nick-named car—not a soul could touch Tora.
The others nodded and scrambled out of the house in the blink of an eye.
“Sheesh, they’re all like children. Are they really older than me?” she shook her head.
The door to her room made a loud noise, followed by a muffled, “WILL YOU LET ME OUT NOW??”
****
Mika stared at his plate, “…is this how you collected all of those over-powered psychos?”
“Hah??” Zeifar asked, pouring him a bowl of soup, “’What do you mean?”
He shook his head, “Nothin’,” and took a bite of his food.
“I dunno’ how food in your world was like, obviously,” she sighed, taking a seat next to him, “But how is it?”
“…good,” he mumbled through a mouthful of food. Not good—it was too good.
The usual he ate was just cafeteria food from his workplace, or random restaurants of different worlds on off-days. Warm, freshly cooked meals were…not usual.
“Glad it’s good. So, what brings you here?” she asked.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
He wondered if he should answer. ‘Maybe not the correct time,’ was the conclusion.
“Uhh,” he looked for an excuse.
“Uh?”
“I was just…hungry?” he gave her a nervous smile and blinked a few times.
“You have a terrible cute-act,” she commented, disgusted.
“Did you at least accept it?”
“No.”
Mika shrugged, “I’ll tell you later.”
Zeifar didn’t reply. She couldn’t really bring herself to wonder or question. There was an odd feeling occupying her minds, making her spaced-out.
She knew the reason Mika had visited again had something to do with the 2nd Round, yet she didn’t ask. By timing, the 2nd Round would begin exactly at 1am. She’d find out anyways.
“By the way,” she remembered, “Please wear normal clothes when you visit.”
Mika looked down at his expensive clothes, “What’s wrong with the suit?”
“The people who work here are extremely sharp, pretty-boy. They’re already suspecting you,” she explained.
“Suspecting me?” he blinked, “Oh, you didn’t tell…?”
Zeifar gave him a look, “You think that’s a good idea?”
“No…”
“Exactly, keep eating.”
But Mika couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the people of Dubai found out that their celebrity racer was business partners with him.
“Listen, mademoiselle,” Mika said, “I know you’ll probably survive the 2nd Round, but,” he made a face.
“Continue?” Zeifar said.
“If you do die, I’ll take your soul and make you work for me for eternity.”
The fact that the thing could be possible made Zeifar slightly unsettled, but she nodded, “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
****
If luck was all her team had, unfortunately it was the only thing Zeifar lacked.
She stared at Mika with panicked eyes as he announced the 2nd Round and as its requirements popped up.
[“You godamn—I’m gonna’—”]
[“I’M SORRY OKAY?”] he managed to say.
Zeifar stared at the task for the 2nd Round.
Well, at least her team was happy about it.
[Contestants of Dubai,
The following are the Terms for the 2nd Round:
Requirements: Survive till the end of the 2nd Round. Must kill at least 5 Tier-8 monsters (for each group)
Duration: 49 Hours 30 Minutes
Task: Kill the ‘Strongest’ contestant of Dubai. The person to do so will be the next Strongest. However, if this Task is not completed, the Population of Dubai will be cut in half. If the Strongest is killed early, the time will be cut in half.]
Oh well.
****
“You all want to go kill monsters?” Zeifar asked, surprised.
Danielle nodded aggressively, “I promise we’ll be fine!”
“Ah…this is troubling,” she muttered to herself, “Alright I suppose. Go in groups of four,” she decided, handing them keys to a certain ‘weapons room’.
Lauraleith gave her a confused look, “You won’t go with us?”
Zeifar shook her head, “I have…some work to do.”
****
Adrian stared at the dark sky as four of them walked down the road. They’d decided not to take a car in fear of Zeifar’s anger in case they damaged it.
The sky was somehow completely different from the sky he knew. It was as if the scenery he had grown up seeing, the cloudy, endless sky was just a big curtain, and the curtain had been removed to expose something so foreign and unknown that he could not quite understand it. He could not seem to accept it, even the littlest of a change.
The endless starry, bright and almost taunting sky full of galaxies—maybe in a different situation he would have found it fascinating—but to him, at that moment, it just felt alien.
He had talked to his mother on the phone earlier, maybe an hour before the 2nd Round. She had been relieved to know that he was alright.
But to Adrian, he wasn’t sure if he was alright.
“I wonder who the strongest in Dubai is?” Ethan asked, still scanning the gun in his hand.
“It might be someone from Luxeour, honestly,” Kazerin replied.
“Why not Mantis?” Adrian asked, returning to senses.
“Because they’re nothing without Jack Dalton.”
Adrian could not agree. He only shook his head. There were many, many in Mantis who he had worked with—and they were all equal to Dalton in almost every aspect, maybe except for power.
“It doesn’t matter who it is,” he sighed, “It’s not like we’ll kill them.”
“But someone will,” Kazerin added.
****
So tricky.
Zeifar wondered what to do.
It was such a tricky situation—like getting gum stuck in your hair. The only way to get rid of it was to cut the hair itself.
[“Mademoiselle,”] Mika’s voice rang in her head as she sat at the rooftop of her house.
[“Hmm?”] she asked in return.
[“Don’t try anything.”]
She sighed and stretched her arms, [“What do you mean?”]
[“I know your ranking. Don’t try anything.”]
[“Try…what, you think I’ll—?”] she laughed to herself, [“You truly are weird, pretty-boy.”]
[“I’m saying this because I can tell what kind of person you are,”] he replied.
‘…’ Zeifar shook her head. Did she really think that, or was Mika just paranoid? She wanted to believe the latter, but a part of her disagreed. To her human logic, there was only one way to fix this mess.
But something told her that these Rounds were not like that. After all, it wasn’t exactly the same minds or the same logic that had designed these to begin with.
So, the solution, too, would be something ridiculously outside of her human logic.
[“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything like that. But can I ask why you told me that?”]
[“Because they’re going to cut the population in half anyways.”]
****
“These are quite easy to kill,” Kazerin commented, slightly bored, “How did you almost drown while trying to kill these?” she asked Adrian.
He only replied, “It was a Tier-7, Tier-8s are weak.”
He’d gone outside with Kazerin, Lauraleith and Ethan, and they all had combat-type Skills. He wondered how the others were doing, considering the only ones like that were Danielle and McRae…
****
“DANIELLE IT’S KILLING ME!!!” Raymond screamed, throwing his gun at the monster with an odd healing Skill on.
Weirdly enough, the healing Skill made the monster burst into light.
“Oh…” he stared, “…that worked.”
“That was only a Tier-10, Raymond, they only look creepy nothing else,” Keilan reassured.
Danielle shook her head with a sigh and looked at Xavier, “You’re a Knight-Category with high-level Skills, why did you get abandoned?” she asked.
Xavier sighed, “I didn’t get abandoned. I left.”
“Why’d you leave such a powerful group of people?”
“Because they’d kill me off the moment I’m not useful anymore.”
Danielle was silent for a bit after that. She was never one to talk much anyways, and the Luxeours seemed a bit intimidated by her, which made them talk less.
Amidst the silence, Raymond walked behind. He doubted anything would happen to him. The only way to stay safe was to get used to it—if the Rounds became harder, he would have to get stronger.
But there was another odd feeling poking at his calmness.
He might have been weaker in fighting, but he wasn’t dumb.
Plain intuition, a gut feeling, was telling him something was wrong.
‘This Zeifar is hiding something, isn’t she?’
****
Zeifar had been sitting on the roof for longer than an hour, and the quieter it seemed to get, the more intense her feeling of insanity got.
“Ah…this is all so…” she had to think. She needed to think.
She knew exactly what this Round was testing. It was testing to see if the person they had decided as the Strongest truly was strong.
Yet, if Zeifar didn’t tell anyone the truth she would be the cause of death, and if she did, she would get killed—oh well, that was not happening.
Her life was not something she was willing to give for a stupid game.
‘System, initiate Observatory.’
[Initiating…]
The world seemed to blur for a moment and become clearer in the next. It was as if Zeifar’s senses had been amplified—increased to infinity, almost. Not to its full power, but enough for the time being.
[Currently using Lvl.30 Skill: ‘Observatory Infinity’]
‘Level 30?’
[When Stats reach a required level, Skills are levelled up.]
Zeifar supposed it was useful information.
Useful only if she survived.
[Stellar: ‘Guardian of Graves’ hopes you survive the 2nd Round. +2000 Sterlings]
“Right, the cameras are on now,” she muttered to herself. She had not really intended to become this popular among the Stellars, though based on Mika there were still only a few watching Dubai’s Rounds.
‘If there aren’t many Stellars now, that means I need to make Dubai more popular, or I might become some eternal slave…’ she thought to herself, “Shit, that means I can’t even die!”
She realized she had said that out loud. Luckily, nobody seemed to find it odd.
“Oh wait,” she muttered. The weirdos were all donating Sterlings.
[Stellar: ‘Master of Darkness’ hopes to see something interesting. +3500 Sterlings]
[Stellar: ‘Guardian of Graves’ wishes for his fellow Stellars to stop flexing. +4000 Sterlings]
Sterlings were the universal currency—the same ‘money’ Mika earned, and the only form of support Stellars could give their favored contestants during the early Rounds.
‘Currently the only big, top-level Stellars watching Dubai are Anubis, Persephone and Chang’e,’ Zeifar thought to herself. There might’ve been other powerful ones, but none more than these.
‘To get more Sterlings, I need more top-level Stellars.’
The Stellars had a hierarchy as well—power, money and fame—the more they had, the higher they were. To get more top-levels’ attention, she needed something eye-catching, and for that…
[“Mika.”]
[“Yes, mademoiselle?”]
[“Open the shop, can you?”]
The store had much more than she had expected.
It had almost everything.
[“By the way, a large part of the money you’re spending is ending up in my pockets,”] said Mika.
[“Better for you than,”] she replied, searching more.
Potions and drinks to boost Stats.
She shrugged. Why not? The Stellars could not see which shop she was using anyways.
Her System window showed:
[Your Stats have been temporarily boosted highly due to many potions. Total time left: (Calculating…)]
Overall, she had resulted with around 8 hours.
[Current Sterlings: 10,000]
Not much, the things in the shop were expensive.
She wanted a weapon too. Zeifar wasn’t so sure exactly what she would do with all of it, but instinct told her she might need it.
Scanning over all the weapons, a certain caught her eye. A deep, luminescent red dagger, though it had an odd shape. Its blade was like waves; it wasn’t the standard shape. But it had a damn-good set of Skills.
The only issue was its price.
[Weapon: Otherworld Demonic Blade ‘Raze’
Price: 35,000 Sterlings]
‘They’re trying to rob us!’
“Ah…” she sighed. 25,000 Sterlings more. She couldn’t get that much from the Stellars so quick.
[“Mika.”]
[“Hmm?”]
[“Lend me 25,000 Sterlings.”]
[“A—WHAT—25,000?! Mademoiselle have you gone insane?”]
Zeifar sighed, [“I’ll pay you back double after this Round, I promise.”]
[“That’s guaranteeing that you’ll actually even survive,”] Mika replied, [“Alright,”] he sighed, sounding tired, [“I’m risking a lot with this money, make sure it’s worth it.”]
Zeifar rolled her eyes, [“I believe you’re a smart businessman.”]
Her System showed, [Mikhaenil deposited 30,000 Sterlings.]
[“Extra 5k?”]
[“You said I’m a smart businessman. Consider it an investment.”]
‘Hopefully a good one,’ Mika thought to himself. It was the first time he was betting so much on one person. But he just wanted to see what his crazy mademoiselle was planning.
****
[What information are you wishing to see?]
‘Everything about the 2nd Round.’
[Initiating Lvl.80 (Temporary) Sub-Skill: ‘Summarization’]
[This Skill is currently at a Level which is not allowed.]
[Noviar Effects have reduced Skill to Lvl.50]
“Damn Noviar Effects,” Zeifar said to herself.
‘Proceed with Summarization.’
[Processing…]
[Noviar Round#2
Current Location: Dubai]
It only listed down the information she already knew—oh wait.
The Observatory Skill was still active. Her eyes kept focusing on the word ‘Strongest’. There was a reason.
‘System, can the Ranking be changed in the middle of a Round?’
[If wished so by those who decide the Rankings.]
‘Oh.’
Changing the Rankings…she needed someone to change the title of ‘Strongest’ to someone that could be killed. Sympathy was unfortunately not an option, and neither was compassion.
The first part was clear.
‘Now how the hell am I going to actually change the Rankings?’
She could, yet again, only think of her only shot.
****
[“Mademoiselle this is the third ti—”]
[“Please.”]
Mika stared at the screen in his office-room, startled by the tone of Zeifar’s voice. It was almost desperate, somehow. He had not expected that from her, for a moment he thought it was a joke, but the look on her face he saw on the screen said otherwise.
[“What is it?”]
[“What I’m about to ask is…near impossible,”] Zeifar replied. There was a hopeless air around her words, they tingled his memories, reminding him of all the people he’d seen like that.
[“Go on.”]
[“Is there a way you can convince your bosses to change the Rankings?”]
Mika felt his heart stop beating for a moment, and then beat even aster. It really was a near-impossible request.
[“Ah…”] he was speechless.
[“I’m sorry, I know it’s not possible.”]
He shook his head. It wasn’t impossible, only near-impossible. His bosses were still in the same building as his office. But what she was asking would risk his job, his life—practically everything.
Though there was someone crazy enough to do it.
[“You want me to talk to them?”] Zeifar asked, shocked.
[“How will you explain me disappearing to the Stellars?”] she asked.
[“Well, they don’t know your Ranking anyways and most aren’t watching you right now,”] Mika answered. Still, it was risky. But he knew his mademoiselle well enough.
[“Aish, alright. Pick me up, but still, explaining this to the Stellars…”] Zeifar still sounded wary.
[“30 minutes. If you can finish it in 30 minutes that won’t be a problem.”
[“Alright, pretty-boy.”]
****
Adrian knew not to worry too much. Something, though, told him Zeifar was somewhere doing something reckless.
****
Indeed, she was doing something reckless.
“Mika, you should’ve told me earlier that you have some magical sports car!!!” Zeifar yelled happily, speeding up.
“It’s just really good tech and—I HAVE ONLY ONE SLOW DOWN!” he screamed, holding onto his seat for dear life. He had forgotten she was a racer.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have let her drive,” he sobbed to himself.
The car took them to their destination quite quickly, the only reason he had to use his car in the first place was because he was not allowed to open portals inside the office building, therefore he had to teleport her to his house first.
“We’re here,” Mika said, still feeling his heart beating as fast as rap music.
Zeifar nodded and got out of the car, looking at the unfamiliar place. The sky here was the same, starry and scattered with light—a beauty that had a subtle sense of mockery in it. It was another world. The building’s structure was standard, an out-of-place thing. She assumed it had a typical design to suit the comfort of all the different people working.
“I suppose you’re dressed okay, but here,” Mika handed her a deep red blazer, “The higher-ups won’t talk to you unless you look good.”
“I always do,” Zeifar replied, putting it on and pulling her hair into a claw clip, “And I have a feeling my shoes cost more than their lives.”
Mika laughed and shook his head, “Don’t say that out loud here, you’ll get me killed.”
“You can’t die this early, pretty-boy. Now lead the way,” she ordered.
He nodded, but the comment stuck to him. It was weird, he wasn’t sure why.
****
Zeifar walked behind her escort, staring boredly at his silver hair while thinking.
The System had sent her a message about a minute ago. A very interesting message.
[You are in a dimension/ World which’s level of Strength is much below you (Temporary). All Noviar Effects have been completely nullified due to ‘Mirror Void’ (Temporary).]
It was unexpected, but as she walked, she thanked her instincts a million times. And tried her best to fight down the murderous adrenaline rush.
Mika opened the door to an elevator and told her to get on, then pressed on the 20th floor button, then 8th, then 7th, a code. The lift beeped and instead of going up, its back wall slided open.
“Of course it’s a secret door,” Zeifar muttered to herself, “Flashy bastards.”
“Before we go in the conference room, I do want to remind you that all of them are winners of their worlds’ Rounds—” Mika began,
“—Who are almost on the same level as Stellars, I know,” Zeifar cut off, then grinned. She had a mischievous sparkle around her, it scared him a little.
“But here, in this building, they’re all affected by Noviar Effects, aren’t they? It’s not their home world so, probably at least twice as much…”
“…yes,” Mika replied, feeling worried but a little curious. What was she planning?
****