The bloodied clouds cast over the bottom of the hill in an eerie silence.

Florence rubbed the back of her head. On one side of her face, her eyelid, eyebrow, and corner of her mouth drooped. She averted her attention away from Feno. What did she mean when she asked that specific question? It didn’t make sense. The gravel hissed beneath Florence as she wobbled her feet, her burnt ankle and knee screaming.

A crate, piles of Natural EXP Crystals, and canned foods sat on the table with a claw mark. A gray pawn floated above it in the air. The Natural EXP Crystal ripped out of her chest.

The crowd of NPCs whispered to each other in incoherent words.

Amidst all of this, Basilisk’s scalp glimmered. He gripped onto the metal rod that stabbed through his stomach.

Next to Florence, Aisling scratched her chin. She tapped her feet on the ground.

Yuze snored, leaning into Aisling’s shoulder.

Stella rubbed her puffy eyes as Sam munched on her hair.

“So, what brings you here today?” Feno sniffed a lily in her hand. “Anything special in particular?”

“Hostages,” Florence said. But the nerves under her skin howled as she moved her lips, paralyzing her muscles.

“Hotdogs? As in, like the food?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I should… really stop talking to you. Anyways, hope you get better… especially your face.”

Florence turned around, sliding her palm down her neck.

Basilisk, the collar of his torn jacket, revealing a red eye tattoo on his shoulder.

A wind whistled in Florence’s ears, rustling her hair.

“Everyone, listen up,” Basilisk said. “Our leader had contacted me about a certain… inconvenience, and I’m sure you already know it.”

The NPC with an antenna sticking out of his neck pulled up his sleeve. Beneath it, a red eye was tattooed on his forearm. “Does this look like a leader to you, my child? And why should I listen to you when you call yourself Basilisk? Such a cringe-worthy name. Your name should be Wire Hair, my child.”

“Anyway, several problems must be resolved before initiating our leader’s plan.”

“Don’t ignore me when I talk to you, my child.”

“Firstly, regarding the food source situation… we should split it evenly. That at least will take a week before it runs out.”

“Hello? Stop ignoring me?”

“Secondly, about the Natural EXP Crystal, I think… just like what the squirrel said… it would be better to trade it to the other Systems.”

“You… heretic. How dare you suggest such an idea.”

A click echoed.

The squirrel whistled, putting back the pistol into her bushy tail. She brushed her gray fur. Behind her, the animals dropped their weapons from their mouths and hands. The gravel shrilled beneath them.

“What’s the meaning of this?” The gray queen smacked the staff on her palm, shaking her head. “All these resources you’ve taken are rightfully part of the great Chess Empire.”

“Do you have memory loss or something? I don’t know where to begin?” the squirrel asked. By the way, there is spare food in that Candy Wonderland for all of you.” She leaned forward, sniffing the cans in front of her. “Plus, we did all the heavy lifting for this, buddy. So it belongs to us.”

The NPC with frog-like eyes laughed, clasping his hand. He leaned into the clawed table. “Did you hit your head too hard or something?”

“They didn’t do anything,” the gray queen said. “Did you even see those… pets running around District Nine trying to get our necessities?”

Sam raised his paws.

“What did you use to get that stuff back? Weapons and ammunition. Isn’t that right?” The squirrel thrashed her tail. “And where do you think we got it from?”

“It’s easy for you to say when you aren’t fighting on the front line,” the NPCs with frog-like eyes said.

The gray queen swung the staff over her shoulder. “Exactly.”

Basilisk slammed his palm on the table, rattling the canned foods and crate.

“All of you didn’t even fully commit to sending your NPCs. I wonder where they might have been,” the squirrel said.

“Could you let me finish? Or do you want to face the wrath of our leader again?” Basilisk pointed at the red eye tattooed on his shoulder.

The eerie silence penetrated the air.

“Thank you,” Basilisk said. He looked over to Florence, Aisling, Yuze, and Stella. “Lastly, we’ve got to deal with them before committing to our leader’s plan.”

The bandages rustled. Every NPC turned around, glaring at Florence, Aisling, Yuze, and Stella.

Aisling scratched her chin. Then she pointed her index finger upwards to the bloodied clouds. “I figured it out… kinda.”

“How did I even get here?” Florence raised her hands up. “Wait… why are you saying that at such a time?”

“I think it’ll be better if we keep them as hostages,” Basilisk said.

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“This is outrageous.” The gray queen smashed a hole in the table with her staff. “We should kill them.”

Holland shoved her way through the crowd, stomping behind the NPC with frog-like eyes.

“I think it’ll be better for all of you to agree that we should keep them as hostages,” Basilisk said.

“What did those Players do to you?” Holland drew her shoulders close together, waving her arms around. “Have you lost your mind?”

The NPC with an antenna sticking out of his clasped his hand, pressing onto his forehead. “I’ve got a better idea. We should convert them to the children of Mechtus.”

“All I know is that they’re probably here for our Natural EXP Crystals,” the squirrel said.

“Pardon me, could we not be involved in this?” Florence asked.

Holland bleated.

“Speak properly, Player,” the NPC with frog-like eyes said.

Basilisk limped around the table. “We could use them as bargaining chips to get what we wanted.”

“Never,” the gray queen said. “They must be executed for what they did to our parents.”

“We didn’t,” Aisling said.

The squirrel straightened her back. “For more money… I mean… weapons.”

“Medical supplies,” Basilisk said. He held his hand behind his back, pacing back and forth. “Come on, it’s quite obvious. Just take a look around you.”

The NPC with an antenna sticking out of his neck shook his head. “By following our machine god, Mechtus, any injuries or disease can be healed, my child. There is no need for this… silly medical nonsense.”

“We already have those supplies back in that oil-painted city for all of you.” the squirrel said. “Why do we’ve to go out there and get it? How about we get those Ability Leaves instead?”

“Why would we need that?” Basilisk slammed his feet on top of the table. He patted the pockets of his torn jacket. “It’s not what we… never mind.”

“I think this is a bad idea,” Florence said.

Aisling stomped on Florence’s toes.

Florence gritted her teeth. Her nerves screamed. “Pardon me; using us as bargaining chips would be a good idea.”

Aisling jostled Florence on the side.

Florence leaned closer to Aisling, blowing into her ear.

Aisling tilted her head. Her eyes widened. “What’re you doing? ASMR?”

“What is ASMR?”

“What did you just try to say?.”

“I’m just going to get a bit off-topic. You said that you figured something out. Perhaps you could inform me about it.”

The ground tremored. The gravel shrilled beneath Florence, dancing below her feet and between her toes. From afar, a single column of black smoke rose over the hill.

A click echoed.

The squirrel reached into her bushy tail. She pulled out a pistol, aiming it at Basilisk.

Aisling eyed the red eye tattoo on Basilisk’s shoulder.

“What was that?” The squirrel rapidly shook her tail, and the gun trembled in her paws. “Who is it?”

“Not me,” Basilisk said. “Probably the monster.”

“To be fair, I’ve seen that specific red eye tattoo before,” Florence said beside Aisling’s ear. “But how does that relate to our supernatural case?”

“Monster.” The squirrel squeaked. “How did you not kill it already? Aren’t you an Ability User?”

Aisling pointed at the long claw mark on top of the table.

“Wait a minute… this claw mark.” Florence squinted, raising her eyebrows. “How was it even… wait, this looks similar to the haunted part of the Wellor Tower.

“The monster?” Basilisk clenched his fist. He bent himself closer to the squirrel. “If you never fought against it, how would you know this monster is killable?”

The squirrel squeaked. “I need answers. No excuses.”

“Could we actually just execute those Players already?” The gray queen crossed her arms. “I’m getting tired of waiting.”

“That’s what you wanted. But not everyone here wants to do it if you can’t tell already,” Basilisk said.

The gray queen rolled her eyes.

“How was that… thing there?” Florence asked.

Aisling cupped her lips. “This is starting to make sense… kinda… I think. Also, Florence, you should stop talking. Since… you kinda know it, right?”

“What do you mean, maybe? This no longer makes sense to me… at least.”

The gray queen coughed, clearing her throat.

“Sorry, we were just talking about something,” Florence said. She shrugged. “Nothing much. But a very one-sided conversation.”

“So, could you get to the point, my fella?” The NPC with frog-like eyes blinked. “Or are you just going to keep yapping here?”

Florence pointed at herself.

“Not you,” the NPC with frog-like eyes said. “I’m talking about Basilisk.”

“It’s important that we did what I’ve said first before we even started what our leader planned to do,” Basilisk said. He limped towards Holland, placing his palm on Holland’s shoulder. “Believe me.”

The squirrel wrapped her finger around the trigger. “Do we really have to get the medical supplies?”

“I know you want to do it. Shot him,” the gray queen said.

“Of course, we’ve got to do it,” Basilisk said. “Not the shooting part. I’m talking about medical supplies. We can’t just limp in there with our injuries.”

The NPC with frog-like eyes pumped his fist into the air. “Then we shall share our injuries and pain equally.”

Everyone looked at him with a blank expression plastered on their face.

Basilisk shrugged. “Anyways, Jack, have you got it ready?”

An eerie silence followed, penetrating the air.

“Jack? Come out wherever you’re,” Basilisk said.

“I’m over here.” Jack waved his hands amongst the crowd of NPC with machine parts bursting out of them. He stretched his hand out with a plug the size of his finger towards Basilisk. “Here it is.”

Basilisk grabbed the plug from Jack.

“What’s that going to do?” The gray queen scrambled the gravel below her with a staff. “Tickle, you know that USB will not give them a dent or anything else.”

The chess pieces behind her chuckled. But the gray king burrowed into the ground until it reached his hips.

“What is a USB?” Florence asked. She leaned closer to Aisling.

The chess pieces now erupted in laughter. They clenched their abdomen, rolling in the gravel.

Basilisk sighed, pushing his palm side of the metal rod stabbed through his stomach. “Gray rook, go to H-Five and do a backflip down that hill.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll totally… not.” The gray rook smacked her knees, hunching over the gray king. Suddenly, her spine straightened upright. She slid up the hill, knocking over the chess pieces with the gravel shrilling beneath her.

The laughter died down into an eerie silence.

“You see that,” Basilisk said. “Next time, I will use that specific phrase if you don’t listen to me.”

The gray queen snarled. “How… dare you threaten us like that?”

“To be fair, just look around you, Basilisk,” the squirrel said. “Do you seriously think we would listen to you if this situation keeps happening repeatedly?”

Basilisk pointed at the canned food on the table with the USB. “If the plan succeeds, we no longer have to get this each time we run out of supplies.”

“I don’t sense equality in this deal,” the NPC with frog-like eyes said.

Holland grabbed a Natural EXP Crystal, twirling it around. “All of you know what happens if we don’t comply.”

The squirrel squeaked. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”

The ground tremored. The gravel bounced up to the ankles.

Florence wobbled, losing her footing.

Smokes poured over the hill, where a blazing orange shone on the other side, engulfing the bloodied clouds.

From the peak, the gray rook backflipped. She rolled down the slope, kicking up the gravel. “The monster is here.”