The others rushed over to him, though there wasn't much to help considering the monster was already at the brink of death, about to die in just a few more moments as it was bleeding out.
As blood pooled around the creature, Jack became quite teary-eyed looking at his injury.
Both Mia and Jessica were confused, though had about the same reaction.
"W-What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"Did something upset you?"
As for Kenji, he looked at the two incredulously. It was clear that he felt that the two of them were being a little bit ridiculous.
"Is it not obvious that he's hurt? Why are you two acting like that?"
Jessica kept her attention on Jack, while Mia turned to him with a bit of an awkward look on her face. Although he wasn't being all that unreasonable, just recalling a few of the things that Jack had been through before, a slight bruise was hard to even mention as meaningful.
"Well..."
Before Mia could think of a good way to explain, Jack spoke up.
"It doesn't hurt like before... why doesn't it hurt?"
A trace of panic went past his eyes as his pupils twitched. He changed expressions rather quickly, as though bipolar disorder was contagious and he had just caught it. From confusion, to sadness, frustration, and more.
"Dad said it wouldn't go away if I didn't do it too much... it would still hurt me. But it feels so far away already."
He was distraught, thinking that he hadn't gone through that much pain yet. However, while he could register the pain, it was hardly noticeable. Although he had gone through several incredibly jarring incidents, he didn't think that was enough to numb his sensitivity.
And although that was somewhat ridiculous, he wasn't completely wrong in thinking that way.
Pain tolerance, or at least his current level, wasn't something that was suddenly built up in a day. The biggest reason for this sudden change was actually part of the powers he had obtained from completing the hearts trials. It had given him an absurd amount of willpower when he already had a substantial amount.
As a result, even if his hand was directly cut off, it would be akin to a normal person feeling a shallow paper cut in their skin.
Jessica got down on one knee and hugged him rather tightly while patting his back.
"It's ok, it's ok..."
Jack let out a muffled whine but didn't resist.
"Will it really be ok?"
For a moment, Jessica was speechless. She reflexively wanted to say yes but was unable to bring herself to do such a thing. In the end, she held him a little bit closer.
"I hope so."
As for Kenji, his brain seemed to be jumbled up. He was not following whatsoever, since he was still working off of common sense. Mia smiled awkwardly.
"Jack is a kid, but... he's not afraid of things that most adults are. I guess that just makes him more of a kid, though the degree is somewhat concerning."
Kenji's frown deepened slightly. Although he still didn't really get it, he was beginning to catch on. After all, there had to be some catch to a kid being still so jubilant and unafraid at the current stage.
Even if there was someone protecting him the entire time, the things witnessed would be enough to scare most normal people, much less a child. He didn't think that far before, but at least the obvious thing clicked into place for him.
There was something off about Jack.
Or perhaps, many things off.
Though for now at least, he was calming down somewhat. Whether it was because of Jessica or his increased willpower was unclear, but neither seemed to hurt. While patting him on the back, she shot a glance at the nearby shop.
"Would you like a pastry? I can get you one."
Jack shook his head, opening his black deck and taking out a paper bag.
"I want to eat a lemon right now."
Without even taking off the skin, he directly took a bite out of it. With just a couple more bites, he had finished the entire thing. Kenji blinked several times. He got over it fairly quickly though, since that wasn't exactly the most surprising thing about him. Jessica took out her paper bag and got the lemon out from inside.
"Do you want another one?"
Jack nodded, taking the lemon with both hands held out as though it were an offering.
"Thank you."
He ate it as quickly as the first one, feeling better after doing so. He got up with a small smile before stretching.
"I'm ok now. Should we go play the game now?"
Jessica immediately agreed, nodding a few times.
"Alright, let's go do it."
Mia and Kenji weren't opposed to it either, so they went along with it. And so, the four of them inserted their playing decks to play the game, The Eyes Deceive.
All of them disappeared into a flash of light.
Jack found himself alone, in the middle of a room that had a needlessly high ceiling. Everything was covered with the same white tiling that had appeared outside. The main difference, other than the size, was that it was faintly damp. The rooms appeared fairly nonsensical, almost as though they were run through a random shape generator and the first result was how the building was constructed.
While he was looking around, a system prompt silently appeared in front of him. It occasionally phased in and out, almost like it was glitched.
[Find each other before the monsters find you.
Use of cards allow you to see behind layers of deceit depending on the level of the card chosen.]
Unlike the more long-winded descriptions and meticulously laid out rules of the second floor, this particular test instead gave the bare minimum. Leaving only a very simple concept before calling it a day.
Looked around quite curiously. He didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, reaching out to place his hand on a nearby wall. Yet, it phased right through it. Jack found this quite interesting, putting both hands in and out a few times before sticking his head inside the wall.
And once he did, he saw the outside. Or at least, what appeared to be the outside.
There was a pitch black void, but despite that fact, he was able to see what appeared to be walls of other far off rooms in the distance which appeared well-lit, almost like he had no clipped out of the bounds of a game.
After thinking for a while, he took a step into the boundless void, thinking not much of it.
The fact that he might plummet endlessly in the void if he took a step out apparently did not occur to him. He happily skipped outside, standing on what seemed to be nothing with a smile on his face. To him, what was visible was less appealing compared to the complete pitch black darkness that seemed to extend out infinitely.
And so, he walked out towards it.
It was hard to tell if he was making progress, but after occasionally looking over his shoulder, he saw that all the white tiling looked further and further in the distance. With that as his encouragement, he continued on.
Yet, he eventually hit something, prompting him to gasp.
"Ah!"
After bouncing back from what felt like a wall, he looked around curiously. The only thing he saw were the rooms far off in the distance. Most people would have the train of thought that this was the boundary, and that they couldn't go any further. However, Jack put his hands on it, feeling it out.
The texture was the same white tiling from before, though the only thing he saw was that same pitch black.
He continued to feel around, moving to a side to see if the wall would continue that way. For a while, it just felt the same, a continuous wall. However, soon enough he found a fairly small gap. With an accomplished smile, he went on through it.
Just after a few steps, everything brightened considerably, before he found himself in the middle of the maze-like place once more. Instead of just pitch black, he saw the white tiling all around him where he had felt it before. When he turned around, he just saw an incredibly wide expanse of that same tiling where all the pitch black void had once been.
It appeared that everything had been an illusion.
As he continued on further, he could see Mia in the distance, looking around rather obliviously. Though instead of going to her directly, he stood there for a moment with his finger on his chin.
Eventually, Mia turned to him and waved with an excited smile on her face.
Though Jack only tilted his head to the side with a slight frown.
"You smell different..."