Wake up.
Another few days have passed since then. The three of them steadily killed children, none helping each other in order to gain the attention of the so-called supervisors.
Gwynnevere slowly felt numb to killing children but she still felt disgusted on what she had done. She would drill this memory in her mind and never forget the moment when she killed 45 children all on her own.
Her hands had already turned red and her entire visage corrupted by the swirling mass of disgust and guilt.
Finally, exactly 500 children had survived.
Wake up.
In just 6 days, 500 children lost their lives.
Their corpses strewn across the entire ground, some already rotting, some eaten by insects and pests, others were brutally mutilated by the fight.
Soon after, the man, Phantaos appeared on the podium once more, this time guarded by two men wearing veils that covered the entirety of their head and neck. Phantaos stared at the children when suddenly, men jumped down from the podium and started picking up the dead corpses of the killed children.
They stacked them all together, one by one as the children watched in horror, finally realizing how much they had killed.
Wake up.
The entire 500 corpses of children had turned into a mountain of flesh. Blood sipping from the grievous wounds they had, their entire faces pale purple as their lifeless eyes stared at the living with maliciousness. This chilled the entire children.
Then they turned to their hands, the very same hands that took those children's lives.
Gwynnevere stared at the mountain with shaking eyes, the memories of her killing those 45 children resurfaced in her mind. A burning sensation swiftly came up on her throat.
Barf.
She threw up everything of whats left of her stomach as she fell down to her knees. She tired to cover her mouth but more barf came out, staining her hand with grayish white gooey substance as tears formed in her eyes.
Wake up.
Aschura stared at the child with little to no expression on her face as she knelt down and placed her hand over her tiny back. Arthur just stayed put as he watched Aschura comfort Gwynnevere as she cried.
Then he stared at the scene with blank eyes, devoid of any expression on his face.
"Wake up." He says.
Gwynnevere flinched, then looked back up.
Arthur was infront of her, no, Rueben was infront of her.
His face filled with determination as he held her tiny head.
"Wake up, Gwynne. I need you."
Gwynne stared at Rueben, then the entire scene shattered like broken mirror pieces as she found herself back at the labyrinth.
Gwynne fell to her knees as she let out a gasp, countless painful memories surged in her head as she tried to make sense of her current predicament. She watched as Rueben got stabbed by a beast but swiftly grabbed its head and stabbed it with a rusty knife.
Breathing loudly, she immediately understood what she had to do.
Sorcery? Magic? No… Hypnosis? She thought to herself as she stabbed her leg to force them to work.
Adrenaline rushed through her veins as her mind swiftly tried to find a solution to their predicament.
Something Psychological…. Its probably Hypnosis. She hypnotized us to remember our past memories? How?
When Gwynne finally managed to stand, Hershey, fighting against Rueben, immediately turned to her and then her eyes turned purple as she spoke, "Suidin Sifness"
-Sudden Sleepiness-
Just as Gwynne managed to take one step, she fell down as she felt her entire body turn heavy, her eyelids growing heavier every second as she felt comfort in her entire body, prompting her to sleep.
Gwynne fell down on the floor, knocked down as Hershey smiled at Rueben, who glanced at Gwynne, confirmed she's safe, and turned to her while brandishing a rusty knife.
"How did you do that? What kind of sorcery did you use."
Rueben asked as he stabbed the air three times.
"Something like that." Hershey answered as she dodged the incoming knife.
"That 'Spell' was to make someone fall asleep in a mere second, any outside forces that would disturb the target will render anything they do useless. The only way to wake her up is if I cancel the spell."
Hypnosis? Rueben thought to himself.
Then he turned to Gwynne, who was fast asleep.
"Any other characteristics that I should worry about?"
Hershey smiled as she let out another beast to pounce on Rueben. Rueben grabbed its fangs and pushed his arm before stabbing it inside its throat.
"You should already have an idea what my "Concept" is? Why would you bother asking me?"
Concept? His eyes narrowed as he ran towards her, dodging the incoming attack.
Hershey gave him a smile as she grabbed his arm, twisted it into her arm and disarming him in an instant. His knife already in her hands, Rueben clenched his fist as a knife slowly descended from his wrist, he then turned the knife and held it like an ice pick.
"Hey." Hershey dashed towards him and thrusted a blow as Rueben went to parry it when all of the sudden, "Tip."
-Trip-
Wha-… Rueben's ankle suddenly twisted and his entire leg bent forward, his body lunged forward as Rueben went into a daze as he fell.
Then his eyes regained their focus. He made his body perform a roll, quickly standing up in a hurry as a surprised look formed on his face.
Hershey smiled at him.
"Quite a quick reaction reflex." She brandished the knife, then swiftly dashed towards him as Rueben rolled to the side to dodge.
"Sowmiuram."
-Show me your arm.-
Rueben fell into a daze again as he held out his left hand towards her. Just as he regathered his thoughts, Hershey had already sliced his arm off. Rueben looked at her, his face filled with shock before turning around to kick her, only for it to completely miss when she suddenly bent down. The knife then went to his thigh and dug deeply.
Then she stood up and held the back of his neck, her eyes glowing as she spoke, "Ris."
-Rest-
Rueben felt his entire body ease its tension and slowly descend into relaxation as he slumped down, even the searing pain on his left arm, rather, his missing left arm was gone, replaced with a comfortable feeling.
What is going on….? Rueben glanced at her as he felt his eyelids go heavy.
So…. peaceful… He thought to himself as he let out a yawn, No... I can't rest….. here….
Rueben slowly closed his eyes.
Hershey stared at him, then turned to Gwynne, who was lying on the ground.
"For now, nothing bad could happen." She muttered to herself as she held the rusty knife.
She then walked towards Gwynne while holding the same knife in her hand. She studied her for a moment, before kneeling down and raised the knife up in the air.
Just as she was about to thrust the knife into Gwynne's heart, she froze.
Gwynne was lying there, her eyes wide open with a cold gaze. On her hand was a flintlock pistol. Specifically aimed towards Hershey.
Hershey fell silent, then an exploding noise sounded out.
Hershey, a few meters away from Gwynne, stared at her with a smile on her face. She was holding her chest, specifically where her heart lies as black liquid fell down from the wound.
Gwynne was still lying on the floor, the nozzle of the pistol had smoke drizzling out of it as she stared at Hershey with a cold face.
"Being able to dodge a bullet at pointblank range. I swore I was aiming at your heart."
Gwynne smiled as she slowly stood up, reloaded the pistol and aimed it back at her.
Hershey only glanced at Rueben, then to Gwynne as she asked, "How did you wake up?"
Her eyes turning purple as she said so.
Gwynne gave her a grin as she took out a small knife from one of her pockets. The knife landed on Reuben's thigh, effectively waking him up because of the pain.
He groggily slapped himself awake and turned to Hershey after he pulled the knife out of his thigh.
"I was surprised. Supernatural powers, y'know? Never in my entire life have I saw someone capable of using supernatural powers." Gwynne monologued.
"Though there were evidences that supernatural forces exists, I haven't really encountered one, only read it in books."
Rueben walked towards her, then dug his hand behind her back and pulled out a thin dagger.
"How did I wake up?" Gwynne asked as she gave the pistol to Rueben, who was already aiming it towards Hershey.
"Rueben told me to."
"...The Hunter told you to…?" Hershey glanced at her, surprised.
"What exactly do you mean?"
"Exactly what I mean." Gwynne raised her arms up, "This guy somehow managed to invade my subconsciousness and tell me to wake up. I don't know how but that was really the case."
Hershey glanced at her, then to Rueben who was looking at her.
She then turned down and looked at her wound before looking up.
"Now that we have you cornered, please answer some questions of ours…"
Gwynne smiled.
"Okay, princess?"