"Ugh."
"Gwen!"
The woman Auclair had kicked into a neighboring building groaned and opened her heavy eyes. Her brother was hovering over her with a worried expression.
"What're you looking so stupid for?" She remarked.
"Huh?"
"Your expression, its dumb. I'm fine, so where's that bastard at?"
She leaned forward and gripped her head which felt like it could explode at any moment.
"Well? Come on, spit it out."
Her brother Vincent clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"You need to learn to appreciate life you know. I know you're probably having trouble remembering, but that guy kicked you, and I cannot stress this enough, INTO A BUILDING! Look, we aren't getting the treasure this time around. Let's just try again-"
"You know that's not how it works! Only those who pass the tutorial with an adequate score can keep going." She interrupted.
"Yeah? Well we still won't win in a fight against that guy. What's your plan for that genius? I'm assuming that kick to your skull did some more damage than visible to the eye." He said sarcastically.
"The games use a point system, so we just need to prove our worth. Let's raid the tower, and take any of the treasures we find. We'll get bonus points and hopefully that'll be enough to propel us up the ranks and into passing he trial. I'm sure we can pick fights and win those too for bonus points."
"I don't want to fight anyone in the same trial as that guy."
"Fine. Then we'll just be pussies who go after treasure. No one ever gets to champion rank like that, I know you know that" She retorted. "Sometimes you gotta take a risk- go big or go home."
"Just promise me, that if we run into that guy, you'll run. I doubt your coconut for a head will take another kick and be fine."
He muttered under his breath, "It'll just become mashed potatoes instead."
"What was that?!"
"Nothing."
Gwen looked at her brother and sighed.
"Alright, lets get going to the tower."
"Oh and the king has the treasure, he entered the tower with basically every contestant following crazily after him, and that includes Mr. Legs."
"You didn't think to tell me that sooner?" Gwen pouted.
"Well, Mr. Legs made sure you were taking a dirt nap, so I couldn't really do that."
"Alright, alright, I get it. Let's stop bickering and go."
They both started heading towards the tower coming up with various plans and contingencies.
At the same time Auclair was trying to ignore an annoyance.
"Just tell me and I'll go away!"
Auclair rubbed his temples as he walked past the doors leading into the tower's interior. The annoyance was obviously Norman.
"What did you mean by make amends?! And how can I do that?!" Norman yelled.
"If you don't shut up, I'm knocking you out and throwing you in an alleyway." Auclair snapped with a scowl.
'I can't tell if I'm supposed to be more patient of a person after being sealed for an eternity.'
"Y-yes sir." Norman promptly closed his mouth with the reason that it probably wasn't the best option to antagonize the person who could help him.
"Thank you."
Then a pair of guards left a nearby room with shoddy armor. They instantly bumped into Auclair who promptly crushed their heads.
"The soldiers must be taking a heavy hit, or else they wouldn't have called for regular guardsmen. Those contestants are pretty interesting." Auclair spoke aloud. He might as well convey that particular thought to the kid.
"Did you just crush their heads?" Norman took a step back and looked at Auclair in horror. He quickly turned to the side and hurled onto the tower's marble floors. The splattered brain matter and blood kept flashing in his mind causing him to hurl some more.
"You'll see much worse in an environment like this." Auclair spoke without much care.
He paused and looked at Norman before rolling his eyes in exhaustion.
"Hey kid, what's your name?"
"Kid? You don't look that much older than me." Norman grumbled as he wiped the horrible smelling liquid from his mouth.
Norman looked back at Auclair while covering the dead bodies with his hand to force them out of sight.
"It's Norman Lancaster."
"Well Norman, I've seen some of the most horrid things people are capable of. What I did was merciful in comparison. Their time was up, so I simply extinguished them. Is it maybe excessive, yes, but at the same time there isn't any suffering."
Norman's head drooped slightly. He focused on the word 'extinguished' for a moment before opening his mouth.
"I hate it when the games turn into bloodbaths. I prefer the treasure hunts, but the most popular matches are always filled with psychopaths… Ah! Not saying you're a psycho, uh-"
"It's fine if you think that. I don't really care for other people's opinions anymore."
"No, no, I really don't think that though! I get that they would've killed us, I'm not a complete idiot. It's just, well, I want to avoid it for as long as I can and as much as I can."
"Everything dies at some point."
"I know, but that doesn't mean I want to be the one who decides that."
"You don't, fate does." Auclair retorted in an attempt at comfort.
He wasn't exactly good at it.
"Uhhh…" Norman stared at Auclair as if he was insane. Auclair simply turned and began heading deeper into the tower.
"Wait! You never told me your name!" Norman rushed to Auclair once more. He glanced down and noticed the dead bodies and almost threw up again.
"Yeah, I don't think we're getting that close."
"Then why'd you ask for my name?" Norman narrowed his eyes as the two walked down the chaotic halls.
"Because its an inconvenience for me otherwise."
"Well duh, why else do you think I'm asking for your name?!" Norman said with an incredulous expression.
Auclair just didn't answer and went back to ignoring the kid, causing Norman to frown in disappointment.
"The king went this way." Auclair pointed to the stairwell.
"How do you know?"
"It doesn't concern you."
Auclair could see the king's thread of fate clearly. It had been guiding him to the king since the execution. The king's thread was incredibly distinct which caused Auclair to be suspicious of him. It would've been impossible for Auclair to lose in a crowd which usually could happen easily.
It made him conclude that there was more going on that met the eye. Auclair concluded it must've been those giant humans.
Auclair and Norman started rushing their way up the fancy stairs. They could hear fights breaking out all over the building, even from above them.
They hadn't taken that long meaning contestants were scaling the tower from the outside.
"Is this game really famous?" Auclair asked as a bunch of soldiers and guards started flooding down the stairs from the top.
Auclair could see some other contestants between them and the guards.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I met a player earlier who knew a lot about it. I don't know a damn thing though."
"What? Have you been living under a rock?"
"Something like that."
"Ah, you must be from an undeveloped world. I guess those are your normal clothes."
"Yes they are. Although I saw at the beginning of the trial they're rather outdated. But back to the game, is there anything I should be aware of?"
While they were making their way up the steps, they got closer to the contestants above them that Auclair had seen earlier.
However, a group of contestants were on a floor between the two groups. They had instead decided to use the chaos to beat as many contestants as possible for points.
The group of five ran out into the stairwell to scout for more potential victims when one saw Auclair and Norman from below.
"Are they nobles? That one in particular seems to be wearing nice clothes."
"No, they'd be running down, not up. They're contestants. Amber, you're up."
"Got it."
A woman with a bandanna covering her face stepped forward and made a bow out of electricity. An electric arrow quickly formed and she pulled the string back.
"So the top players can all pass? And by fighting you get points as well?"
"Yes."
"Interesting." Auclair suddenly kicked Norman in the hip, making him slam against the railing.
"Ugh!"
He groaned in pain but was more concerned about making sure he didn't fall over the edge. Just as he turned back to Auclair, a bolt of lightning whizzed by and struck a wall, making it crumble to pieces.
"You need to learn to pay more attention." Auclair muttered.
"You could've just pointed it out you know?"
The enemy contestants all frowned.
"You missed." The leader of contestants said.
"No shit."
"Well, surprise has gone out the window. Amber, Dale, you two stay back, the rest of us will confront them."
"Yeah, we know. You don't need to say it every time." Dale groaned out as the others started running forward.
Dale raised his hands and started contorting them. Auclair watched as the group made their way down. He noticed Dale's hand movements and looked for any corresponding actions.
What he didn't expect was for a portion of the wall to break off and get flung at him.
Auclair debated moving but instead chose to take it head on. He should've eaten enough hearts for this and if he didn't he doubted Norman would move in time.
Auclair hadn't used much technique while fighting so far, but he finally decided to bust some out. He flattened his palm and hit the wall dead center with it.
The wall stopped with a few deep cracks in it. Auclair lifted his arm and massaged his strained wrist. He turned his gaze towards the people who were now frozen on the stairs.
"Us two will focus on the strong one, you worry about the other one."
The three formulated a plan and took a deep breath before charging forward. They mistakenly thought it was an ability of Auclair and that they'd be able to overpower him.
However the two marksmen in the back stayed confused, especially Dale.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Let's focus everything on him." Amber said with determination.
"Yeah."
Auclair looked towards the stunned Norman.
"Get it together. I drew their attention but I doubt they'll leave you alone."
"Y-yeah."
Norman got up from the railing and pulled out a stolen dagger.
Auclair ran up some of the steps to take the three head on rather than waiting for those in the back to get a clean shot on him. Before he fully managed it, he felt himself get launched into the air.
He looked down and saw the floor he was on had been lifted and he instinctively knew a lightning arrow would be coming for him.
Auclair kicked his legs out and let his body fall. He raised his gaze to see the arrow leave its bow as his hands touched the floating marble.
He pushed hard against it as his legs shot out and planted themselves underneath an attacker's armpits. He gritted his teeth and quickly lifted the man into the air.
The rock started finally wobbling with a loss of magic.
The man was lifted and his eyes grew extremely wide in shock as he now found himself in the path of the arrow.
Without another moment passing, the man received a large hole in his chest and instantly died.
Everything had happened within three seconds.
The fried body that still had lingering energy wrapping around it, Auclair, and the floor all fell down at the same time.
Auclair quickly lifted himself as dust rose everywhere and saw a missing person.
He felt an ominous energy and turned around.
There stood a petrified Norman as a small pale hand extend behind him and wrapped around his body. Then the other hand, followed by thin legs. Very slowly, a tiny head peaked out from behind Norman's shoulder.
Everyone, including Auclair, felt nervous at the sight. Norman's back was completely wet from cold sweat at this point.
The contestant in charge of killing Norman couldn't find it in himself to move. Much like Norman, he was petrified in fear. He had a large sword drawn and was in striking distance but didn't move an inch.
The little girl watched the man with a sword for a moment before sticking out her tongue in anger. She reached forward and grabbed his head before crushing it.