Coulomb's boots squeaked as he paced on the hardwood floor. It was an unnecessary precaution but he always felt better when he was doing everything he could to avoid disasters.
The reason?
After arriving on the 12th Level, he and Joule realized that they got there ahead of the other Savants and the way they found out made it worse.
The instant they stepped out of the cylinder, they were flooded with upgrades, abilities, skills and items. However, their joy was short-lived.
Underneath lay a mandatory invitation to a game and he was paired with her.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The game was to be played in teams of 2 to 8 and required opponents. When the other Savants arrive, they'd notice the pair that got registered before them and wonder how they got there.
He remembered his last conversation with Jolly and regretted his cocky words.
Jolly told him that he would keep the fact that he was the architect of the game that cost 754 Savants their life but he replied that it was unnecessary since they both got what they wanted.
"Your little misdirection act won't fool me, your true aim was to eliminate as many Savants as possible. You thought that if you made it obvious and added hints of mystery, it would look like there was a deeper meaning. You probably fooled a lot of Savants. You might have even fooled me, if Schrodinger didn't explain from the first test that the biggest problem we would have here is arrogantly thinking there was always a profound reason for everything."
Jolly stared at him from the screen with empty sockets. Sadly, skulls didn't make expressions.
After catching his breath, he asked for his rewards and Jolly delivered after speaking ominous words.
"If that is your wish, I wouldn't expend any effort. But I do have one thing to say to you..."
He paused and appeared to be thinking about how to phrase what he wanted to say.
"Those words you spoke to me, could they not be out of the very same arrogance you claimed to have conquered?"
Before Coulomb could reply, he disappeared and left him staring thoughtfully at the black screen. He received a notification that the had acquired new items and then turned to the only screen still on. Joule was obviously irritated at a glance. He abandoned the useless thoughts and went to her.
"Two against eight in a game of combat, he really got me here."
"There's also diplomacy, aren't you familiar with these type of games?"
"Wouldn't it be much easier to team up with another group of eight?"
"That's why I said diplomacy, we just have to make an offer anyone would be stupid to refuse."
Joule replied easily with a smile. He understood that she was referring to the insane amount of useful items he had obtained from several bets with Jolly.
Almost all the bets had his life at stake, the rewards had to be worth it. He had easily transported them directly to his house on the second Level without needing to go to the testing arena to take a cylinder thanks to one of such handy items.
They had already obtained a pass but they would have had to travel through each Level to get to the arena so that they could take the cylinder. It would have been a waste of time and compromised his existence.
He definitely wasn't going to give up any of them easily. Each would be worth millions of credits and he didn't even need that amount because he had more than that.
He broke into an uncharacteristic grin as he realized how much he obtained from just a game. Then he remembered Jolly's last words and his situation and scowled. Joule pretended not to notice, mostly because he sneaked a quick glance at her to check if she saw him.
He resumed pacing. His boots squeaking with each step.
"Do you really need to wear....".
"Then would you help me test it out?".
"Sure."
She answered before he could complete his sentence and he got chills just from her enthusiasm alone.
He had unlocked several abilities and his electricity manipulation was now strong enough to kill. At least he suspected that it was, he tried to control his output to the lowest he could and he felt numb after.
However he still lacked range, thankfully he still had weapons.
But it could have been a coincidence. He wasn't sure if it had any effect on him.
Why would my own ability harm me?
This is a very bad joke, if I didn't know better, I'd be wanting a skeleton's skull.
"When are you going back up?".
"Probably tomorrow. I also need to make this place more habitable, so I'll be taking advantage of this opportunity."
"Can I get a...".
"Absolutely not."
"Thought so, but you probably gave her a key."
"I didn't have a choice."
"Keep telling yourself that."
What's she talking about?
He felt like there was a misunderstanding that he should clear up immediately however her next question made it irrelevant, something he knew he would regret but unfortunately, answering her took priority.
"How I got involved with One-eye, was wondering when you'd ask. Or were you afraid to?".
She maintained eye contact and didn't answer.
"I'm not trying to avoid the question."
He raised his hands in submission.
"Less than an hour after our meeting, you should have noticed that I left the hotel that my team was staying in. "
She didn't seem surprised that he just matter-of-factly stated that he knew she was spying on him. He didn't expect her to be either. That was why he was alive right now, he had taken advantage of that to protect himself. Since he knew she was watching, he didn't have to set up anything grand for her to get suspicious.
"The gym I went to was supposedly booked for the whole day but the doors opened for me, that was when I knew that it wasn't a Savant. To be honest, I thought you were the one who sent the message. Just location, time wasn't specified. He told me he had a proposal, and that he would grant me whatever I wished for. I took up the job of designing a game that would be the end of as many Savants as possible, in return, he offered me a chance to go higher. All I had to do was to get exactly one person that I know to save me, without giving any obvious hints."
"That sounds fishy."
"I know, he didn't make definite rules on what was illegal or what wasn't covered under the term 'obvious'. But, that was a ruse, you'd be worried about if you could trust him when all he wanted the death of as many Savants as possible and he couldn't do it himself for some reason. He needed my help and he wouldn't be able to make unreasonable demands."
"Then, you could have asked for anything you wanted."
"No, I couldn't. He would have wiped my memories of everything related to the meeting if I was uncontrollable. I had to let him maintain the upper hand, however, I added several bets based on the games in each room. I bet my life on most of them, so he accepted without hesitating. This provided me with three important pieces of information."
Joule was finally showing interest. He paused for dramatic effect.
"One, He can't kill Savants for no reason. Two, therefore something higher than him apart from the creator exists in the playground and three, outside of the regular tests, only a Savant can kill another Savant but within those tests, this being would always try to guarantee the safety of the Savants and that is because it has an aversion to killing...for some reason."
She seemed disappointed, she was expecting groundbreaking discoveries. This was probably not important for her.
"Groundmaster."
"Huh ?".
"The being you speak of, I'm calling it Groundmaster."
"Uh, okay?".
He was thinking of a toddler or even god or perhaps, a fusion of both.
"So, when did you receive the message?".
He almost stopped pacing, his rationality was battling his shock, fortunately control of his body switched to his instincts and he continued moving without any break.
He thought he had successfully misled her from the most important detail, it took a lot of effort to avoid giving even a vague detail of the time he received the message. Then he chose his words carefully to make it sound like he received it after the meeting. Yet she saw through everything.
"In the morning."
"In the morning, so wasting your funds was part of the plan....."
He skillfully masked his relief and started thinking of strategies for the next game.
"On which day?".
He lost control of his body and this time every cell in his body had ceased to function. He wasn't sure why he thought she would fall for the trick after the first didn't work.
He stopped moving and sighed.
*********************************************
"Seems we're playing this game together."
"It's not a game."
Newton's sharp admonition made Ein ease up on teasing the triplets.
"I've been wanting to ask this for a while now, why are you in the Playground?".
"Hey, there's a team that registered way before everyone else here, but they're grey on the list."
"Ghost team?".
"Don't make jokes like that, you'll scare Newton."
"Scare me?.... Are you retarded?".
The triplets watched Ein moving his fingers almost rhythmically in the air while Schrodinger was seriously thinking about her ghost team idea and Laplace tried to prevent a situation involving flying fists. At the rate he was going, it was obvious Stein would be airborne soon.
"You guys left me behind!".
A timely intervention.
Beta was thinking of making a flashbang to get their attention, they were supposed to be teammates for the new test and they had limited time to prepare. He was grateful to the child that interrupted them.
Child?
"Shouldn't you be with your team?".
"No, he's....".
"Not a Savant?.... Seriously?".
You don't really sound surprised.
"I'm right here, don't ignore me!".
"Basically, we kidnapped him from the Second Level because we were interested in the AI, turns out they're just idiots."
"Hey!.... that's rude. And I wasn't kidnapped, I came because I wanted to."
"Correction, Abducted."
So he did hear everything he said.
Ein was not really interested in the story but he asked another question to buy time for analysis of what he just discovered. So while he asked a seemingly meaningless question cheerfully, he was conversing with his brother.
"But he's following you, why?".
Stein, you seeing this?
Yeah, Coulomb must have found another way up. And with Joule too, I wonder how he....
"That's what I'll like to know", Alpha snapped.
Yeah, eyepatch did say there was a traitor. Guess it wasn't a lie.
Then, there was some condition that let him pass like if a certain person can tell.
"Maybe it's because of Joule. Speaking of which, how'd you meet and aren't you worried that she didn't pass?".
Nice.
Who do you think you're talking to?
"Well, that's just her limit then. I really expected to see her win, but it appears that she didn't even survive", Beta replied and his brothers agreed with him.
Ah, imagine the look on their faces if they just decided to check her game.
How was it?
"How did you trick him to think that he made the decision himself?", Stein asked.
She won, normally, but she waited in the room and then the video ends there. Probably 'cos' the game was over.
Yeah, the rules say you can't see the inside of a building on video. That game was just an exception.
"What are you guys talking about?".
Gamma was just about to complain about their pointless conversation when the boy spoke.
Do you know what the boy's talking about?
Nope, didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.
"I'm talking to you two. Why am I always ignored?".
The twins were mildly surprised that he noticed even though they were still talking normally. While Schrodinger patted his head, Steins eyes narrowed slightly.
Ein sighed. It was quite unfortunate for the child but his brother regarded him... It ?.... As a threat and he would probably die soon.
Everyone's favorite skeleton buddy interrupted by announcing that all Savants were ready.
"Stand-by for transportation, it'll be over in a nanosecond."
____________________________________________________
Coulomb stared at the men in armor standing in front of him. He was deciding on which room of his house was the best on the 2nd floor and then suddenly he was standing behind Joule and facing soldiers straight out of an RPG.
He felt something heavy on his head and unconsciously tried to remove it, then he saw a crown on Joule's head and his hands dropped instantly.
He took mental notes of his new environment while he read the notification. He ignored the timer which gave only 3 hours of preparation.
Summary : 11 towers and ten teams with 111 men and 11 horses led by 2 to 8 Savants. We need to drop the number from ten to five by forcing 5 teams to surrender, taking them out or sending our limited edition Conquest Soldier to the centre tower.
"Who's the Conquest Soldier?".
Silence.
Joule repeated his question while he tried to suppress his embarrassment.
The soldiers scrambled and fished out a short, lean man who unlike the others equipped with heavy armor and weapons, wore just chainmail and carried a dagger.
He knelt before her and addressed her as any soldier would have to their queen.
"At your service, My Queen."
"Then the rest of you should form groups of ten, try to keep your weapons varied for each group. Expect to fight as groups of.....".
Coulomb stopped abruptly and Joule assumed it was because they weren't listening to him. She started repeating his order but he stopped her and the soldiers stirred menacingly when he did. He brought out a handgun from his storage.
Dammit!.
They're loyal to her and her alone.
" You, come here."
The soldier Coulomb pointed to pretended not to notice in a manner that made it obvious he did notice. Coulomb flipped the safety switch and Joule intervened before things could get messy.
She stared disapprovingly at the soldier and he grudgingly lowered his Axe... Ax? ... Whatever, and knelt at her feet.
"Don't get carried away. Can you hold this and do you know what it is?".
The first part was directed at Joule who was about to offer the soldier her hand to kiss. The rest to the soldier as he tossed the Glock at him.
The soldier held it like it was something dan... Well, it was. Anyway, that provided the answer that he was expecting.
At least he can use it.
I didn't expect to use my infinite arsenal in this manner but I'm so glad I was unable to choose a favorite weapon.
Coulomb took as many weapons as he thought would be useful from his storage and issued them to the soldiers.
"Joule, we have only two hours to train. The Playground makes obtaining skills easier for Savants but whether that applies to NPC is something we'll find out soon."
"We've already won this, no one can beat our superior military might. In order to be here, they would have spent a lot of their credits for the buy-in of the last game and there's no way anyone could have bought anything in that barren land they were taken to."
"You're forgetting that Savants are involved in the battle."
"We can't leave the tower."
"A lot of Savants probably don't need to, in fact, that rule helps them as it prevents close range combat between Savants."
After two hours and fifteen minutes of grueling training ( under Joule's watchful eye), Coulomb declared the men fit for combat.
"Snipers, we're taking every vantage point in the tower. Spread out as much as possible. Shotguns for defense, blast anyone who comes knocking. Rifles and handguns, you're our main unit. Split in two and attack with a divide and conquer Strategy. Retreat the instant things go south. Conquest, you're taking the elite team of four with you, we're counting on you to end this peacefully."
"That's a bad joke. It's not going to..."
"It's the thought that counts... Honestly, this ia probably not going to end well."
He said the latter half as a whisper that only Joule could hear.
The test seemed like a very disgusting joke compared to the others they'd done but he was willing to play along with the farce since it appeared fairly safe.
We haven't seen much though.
The soldiers weren't completely ignoring him thanks to Joule, but he still felt like he was being treated like trash. Joule took the stage immediately after his order.
"Brave soldiers of my Kingdom....."
"Oh my God, Shut up."
"C'mon."
"Time's almost up. Your gracious queen will be watching you all from the top of the tower. I'll be there too, anyone who shows any signs of incompetence loses their head. That is all. Dismissed."
"Hey, but you did it."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Coulomb feigned ignorance as he climbed the stairs leading up with Joule and the Snipers. He marked of 'making a speech to inspire people' off his bucket list and in the darkness of the tower's shadows his lips curved.
The snipers took their positions and he noticed that the towers were equidistant and formed a circle with the 11th at the center.
3.
2.
1.
DEFEND YOUR TOWERS.
___________________________________________________