A Couple Hours Ago…
Lee Seng watched the green haze hit Ritsuka. It enveloped him and every sense in his body burned. He pushed the woman off with one smooth motion, pinning her against the floor and grabbing Ritsuka with the other.
"Ritsuka!" Lee Seng shouted. He watched his friend's eyes rollback as his eyelids closed. The others turned their attention onto the woman as she began to maniacally laugh. Blood gushed out of her wound as she giggled uncontrollably. Blood spewed from her mouth as she fought against Lee Seng's hold.
"What the hell is wrong with her?" Olivia asked.
"Oh, this is great!" The woman shouted. "I get two instead of one? A shame… I'm sure they'll appreciate me thinning the herd."
"500/800 people have entered the building! You should hurry up to your specified location before it's too late~" The voice overhead spoke. Lee Seng watched Ritsuka's skin start to turn green. He sighed and set his friend down and swung his hand over Ritsuka.
"Cure Poison." Lee Seng whispered. He watched the green in Ritsuka's skin disappear. "Healing light…" Golden energy washed over Ritsuka and Lee Seng turned his attention onto the crazy woman rolling in her own blood. He lifted his hand up and summoned the Sun blade.
"Lee…" Keng whispered. Lee Seng came to a stop next to the crazy woman. She smiled at him and giggled.
"You're angry." The woman pointed out the obvious. Lee Seng squeezed his hand on the hilt of the sword and slowly lifted it. "It's a shame I found some ghosts. I didn't think I would be this lucky to see you, Perfect."
Lee Seng stopped. He kept the sword above him as he narrowed his eyes at the woman. "You know me?" The woman laughed and rolled her head backwards before looking at Lee Seng and over to the others.
"Oh, I know all about you." The woman nodded. "Two years ago… when you killed my dear friend. Oh, I know all about that. What happened to you… What became of that puny and useless village… Oh, the sound of their cries… They never saw it coming!"
Olivia moved forward, pulling her dagger out and ripping the hallway apart as she raised her dagger. The woman smiled as Olivia came into full view.
"To think it was all because of you, Perfect Singular. If you didn't go there, none of that would've happened." The woman's smile faded and a cold serious glare pierced Lee Seng's heart. Lee Seng felt his arm twitch. He could feel something inside of him shake at her statement. She moved her eyes straight over to Olivia. "Don't you think it's unfair you were hit by it all, Olivia Ok? Your grandmother was the only family that mattered to you and you paid a steep price for his actions. If he didn't kill the Deimon and minded his own business, maybe your grandmother would be alive today."
"Shut up." Olivia gripped the dagger.
"If you never chose to go there in the first place… and you went wherever you ended up going for two years… Maybe she'd be alive."
"Shut up! You don't know anything."
"But I do! I know all about loss." The woman fully sat up, clutching her stomach wound. She looked straight at Lee Seng. "If you listened to your Mother, maybe you would've been safe from his wrath… Once he hears you're alive, he'll do anything to get his little family back together hehehe… He surely—"
A bolt of lightning flew past Lee Seng and Olivia, hitting the woman. A large charred hole appeared in her chest and her sinister smile was all that was left. Lee Seng released his sword and looked away from the woman and the others.
"100 people left and everyone else gets the much more fun part… Ah, why do I have to play fair? Hurry up! Tick tock!" The announcer spoke.
"Ignore what she said." Liz finally spoke. Smoke trickled from her fingers as an angry glare burned through the dead body of the woman. "She's just messing with both of you. Our priority now is to figure out what's wrong here."
"We should get to the gym before its too late." Victor suggested.
"What about these two?" Keng asked. "They're unconscious. What if something happens to them?"
"You guys figure out what's at the gym." Lee Seng piped up. "I'll keep watch of these two."
"What happens if you don't follow the rules?" Manny asked. "You could very well die!"
"I'm already in my own hell." Lee Seng whispered. He cleared his throat and turned. "Just go. I'll keep watch." Victor nodded in agreement.
"C'mon, we don't have much time." Victor motioned. He started down the hall and the others looked between Lee Seng, Olivia and Manny. Manny sighed and put down Jiro. He had managed to heal him in time, but Ritsuka was another story.
"I'll keep them safe. It should give my healing light enough time to work on Ritsuka." Lee Seng reassured Manny. Manny slowly stood up and kept his eyes on Lee Seng. He studied his friend. The crazy woman had said a lot of creepy things that nobody should've known. They all knew what the answer was, but none of them wanted to say it.
"C'mon." Victor shouted. "No more time to dally around!" Manny's lip twitched and he sighed.
"Let's go." Manny motioned. The group started to move, leaving Olivia, Lee Seng, and Keng standing.
"Go." Lee Seng looked at Keng.
"But—" Keng started to protest.
"I can take care of them alone. They're going to need you." Lee Seng motioned. Keng bit his lip and nodded and moved.
"C'mon, Olivia." Liz whispered, turning her. Olivia turned with defeated eyes and silently followed after.
"Don't die." Evan told Lee Seng. "We'll come back for you."
"Don't worry about me." Lee Seng put on a fake smile. "I've had worse happen to me."
"Oho! People are filling up the place! Hurry everyone! There's limited space in the gyms! Anyone not in it within the next five minutes will be subjected to the Loser's Game!" The announcer gigged. There was a sense of panic when the announcer said that. Lee Seng watched as people moved through the hall, avoiding him and the bodies on the floor. They were scared of this 'Loser's Game.' "Awh, c'mon! I know you love the Loser's Game! It's completely fair! I don't even handle that! My friend to my left rolls a dice and whatever number it lands on, you get the outcome!"
Lee Seng moved towards Ritsuka and his brother. He moved his hands over to both of them and did an 'up' motion. Both bodies lifted up into the air and Lee Seng moved in the opposite direction of his friends.
He eventually find himself in Room 405. It was a room filled with student desks. He set Ritsuka and his brother onto the ground near the white board and closed the door.
"Ring ding ding!" The announcer chimed in. "800 people are in and 300 people got into the gyms! Too bad for the rest who didn't get in! Now, let's roll the dice and see what happens!" The was a clear dice roll noise and two voices gasped. "It's 69! Hahaha, 69! Well, unlike the number, you aren't going to be having a good time! Adapting Hellhounds are going to be stalking the entire Academy district for the next twenty-four hours! Godspeed to the Loser's Game! In the meantime, good job everyone who got into the gym! You get something… way easier!"
The announcer's voice faded and Lee Seng slammed the door shut. He scrawled multiple reinforcement and lock runes onto the door and sat down. Lee Seng looked over to Ritsuka and his brother.
'How did she know all that?' Lee Seng asked himself. He could hear gasps as howls grew all around them. Screams and carnage began. Lee Seng winced at the noises. He listened to the crunch of the unlucky as the Adapting Hellhounds feasted.
[LOSER'S GAME HAS STARTED! SURVIVE THE NEXT 24 HOURS!]
'Let's temporarily leave those thoughts behind.' Lee Seng told himself. 'Let's focus on surviving the next twenty-four hours.' He lifted his finger up into the air and scribbled another rune. 'Silence.' The screams suddenly died, giving him temporary solace. Lee Seng stretched and found himself in his Fox form. His tails slowly felt on him like blankets.
Lee Seng began to feel sleepy. Not enough time had gone by for the Fox Spirit to feel this way. His mind slowed and his eyes grew heavier with each attempt to stay awake. He focused on Ritsuka as sleep took him.
Lee Seng found himself standing in front of a black abyss. He knew something large was in front of him. It moved silently like an assassin, but didn't seem threatening. It pulled forward just enough to show a humanoid shape looking down on Lee Seng.
"Child…" A female voice called out to him. "You must return to me… I will become human once again… And we can be happy together…"
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