Out of nowhere, the sound of glass shattering echoed across the small, cramped room. Standing above the shards was a small, trembling kid, who was just thirsty and wanted to drink some water. He had accidentally dropped the glass, obviously, but... his parents didn't know that. They didn't really care, either. The boy's wide eyes wandered towards his mother who was approaching him, and he could only get out a shaky "Momma, I—" before a hand ran across his face, hard.
The kid staggered back, holding his rapidly reddening cheek with tears in his eyes. His whole head dropped, looking at the floor and the shards in embarrassment and pain. His own mother, the devil in disguise, was still yelling at him for breaking the glass, but the boy couldn't even make out whatever words she was saying. Behind her stood the kid's father, who sighed as he spoke, "How'd I raise such a disappointment..."
The kid, still looking at the shards on the floor, started pushing out apologies as he held himself back from crying, although failing. The two adults got even angrier as the boy was stuttering on his apology, which they definitely didn't deserve, then the woman once again slapped the kid at full force, before she started yelling even harder at him.
And, the boy thought... that his punishment maybe wasn't for nothing. He did something wrong, he deserved this. Didn't he? The tears soon stopped, his expression going blank shortly after. He looked up at his mother, his brown eyes darkening more and more by the second. Right now, he wasn't even properly existing. He was just there. Like a background character.
The kid's father then scoffed, looking him in the eyes with a disgusted look on his face. He spoke up, his tone sour and angry, "Ugh, you monster! Don't you have any emotions?!" before his mother slapped him once more. She was expecting a reaction from him – crying, begging, sobbing... but nothing came through. The kid remained still, uncaring, emotionless. On the outside, anyways. She gave him a disgusted look before raising her hand, bringing it down harder than before as she yelled, "You're a disgrace!"
The boy flinched, closing his eyes for a second, but just for a second. When opening them again, he... wasn't in that cramped room anymore, instead riding inside of a car. He looked around, confused, noticing that they're moving. It was dark outside, even though it was sunny out not even a second ago. The kid could clearly see his parents in the two seats in front, his father driving while his mother sat in—
"That's enough."
The kid, the parents, the car – everything froze, standing absolutely still, as if they got paused. With one blink of the eye, the whole scenery changed into nothingness, as a dark void surrounded him. In a matter of seconds, green Blanks started opening up in all directions, covering whatever blackness remained with a bright hue of that same green. The man standing amongst them all reached out, rubbing his fingers across one of the infinite Blanks as he inspected it.
"You... are one lazy son of a bitch, y'know? If you're gonna traumatize me, you might as well use some other stuff. I know you've got plenty to choose from, asshole..."
Felix sighed, grabbing the Blank in the blink of an eye and smashing it across the floor, angrily. He already went through this once, didn't he? Near-death experiences seemed to bring him to this dark, fucked up place. He looked around at the Blanks, annoyed, searching for any text on them.
"Well, since you were so nice to bring me here, fuckin' speak. What, you scared or something?"
Felix couldn't help but chuckle, before a small "Ding!" echoed to his left. His hand immediately jerked forwards, punching straight through the Blank as he spoke up with a disgusted expression on his face, "I was kidding, you bastard. I don't want to talk to someone as lazy as you. Get out of my face."
As he let the smashed Blank drop to the ground, he felt it again – that same warm touch on his cheeks, and a sweet voice filled the back of his mind, speaking in such a motherly, caring tone...
"Breathe, Felix."
Felix paused. His expression was switching between the same disgusted one, and a somewhat calm one. He muttered some curses as he rubbed his eyes and took in a deep breath, before turning back to the Blanks annoyed.
"Tch. I'll hear you out. Just make it quick."
The Blanks started all switching around, before one landed right in front of him, reading [Greetings again, Felix Fox.]
"...Whatever. What do you want?"
[You're still weak. Not as weak as before... but weak nonetheless.]
"And? What the hell am I supposed to do, huh? I'm working with the Plots, the Stats, and the Floors you give me. I'm doing the best one can do. So if you've got any complaints, please, go eat my a—"
[But you're not at the top of the Leaderboard.]
"And just whose fault is that, you little..."
[Yours and yours alone. You still think you can best me? Or have you changed your mind yet?]
Felix sighed, taking a step closer and bringing his finger up to the cold surface of the Blank as he spoke, his voice filled with hatred and disgust, "Listen here, you celestial fucker."
He took in a big breath, grabbing the green window and holding it tight, his fingers trembling just from how much force he was using – and from how mad he was at the moment.
"I'm gonna murder you even if it's the last thing I do, and then I'll haunt your sorry ass all the way to wherever the fuck your empty soul is gonna go."
The Blank remained unchanged for a few seconds, as Felix's words sunk in on the deep, empty shade of green it was. After a few more moments, the change on it finally changed.
[You're bluffing, Felix.]
"Then why don't you show yourself and see for yourself, pussy? Are your fingers not tired from typing on these fucking Blanks?"
In less than a second, Felix started feeling a great force push on his very core, making him stagger then drop to both of his knees, shaking. He was barely keeping himself standing, almost tipping over and falling on his side, but he still couldn't help but smirk and point up at the Blank, almost challenging it.
"Is this your mighty attempt at keeping me in check? I can handle this shit in my sleep, though?"
The Blanks went silent, all text on them disappearing in the blink of an eye. Instead, the force multiplied, making Felix almost fall over for good this time, even making him cough once or twice as he was short of breath. But, he wasn't going down that easily. Felix punched the ground, annoyed, stabilizing himself as his knees soon stopped trembling against the floor.
"Heh... Yeah, keep trying..."
All of the Blanks started spinning around Felix, and the force surprisingly amplified even further, pressing down on him endlessly, mercilessly and relentlessly. He chuckled, as he now had to use both hands to keep himself from completely falling over. But, truth be told, even though he was chuckling... he was quite pissed. He was angry. He was seething. Fuck, was he mad! Felix took in another deep breath, his palms tightening so hard, his own nails started drawing blood then immediately regenerating because of the void's healing properties.
"Sorry, but I don't think..."
Felix raised his foot, stomping it against the floor and raising himself upwards. The force went up another notch, trying to keep him down, to make him fall, but he kept rising more, uncaring and unbothered. His knees were shaking once more, his hands were trembling – everything, down to his very soul, was creaking and almost failing inside him.
But Anna didn't raise someone so weak, now did she?
Felix still rose up, fighting against any and all forces pushing down on him, only to grab a Blank as it whooshed past his head, stopping it in place and holding it in front of his face.
"...you know who's really the one with power here, asshole."
The force suddenly stopped pressing down, the air immediately becoming light again as his whole body relaxed, and his lungs finally took in a big breath. He kept the Blank in front of his face, waiting and waiting, but no further messages came through. It remained the same shade of sad, depressed green as it always is. Felix smashed it across the floor, before crossing his arms and stomping on the pieces.
"Now, send me to the Resting Grounds. And don't bother, I already know."
He sighed one last time, shutting his eyes and speaking in the same disgusted tone as before.
"Godspeed."
The whole void seemed to shudder as Felix's eyes closed. He waited for a second, then another, and then another, and one more... Seconds, minutes even, seemed to pass, but Felix kept his eyes closed. Man, he was tired... His brain was going over what he went through ever since he came to this damned place, one at a time, out of pure boredom.
First, he met people from another world, in the middle of his city. Then, he met the supposed God and got transferred to a white void, where he made a deal with the mysterious K.J.. After that, he and K.J., whose real name was just Kim, got put in a small room, which they somehow escaped, then they barely managed to beat the Boss, with both of them almost dying in the process.
Moving forward, they trained in the Resting Grounds, then they defeated that wolf on the Second Floor, followed by the succubus on the Third, where Felix managed to get his weapon. On the Fourth Floor, they saved some aristocrat from a big orc and got an invitation to the Queen's Ball, where not only did Felix meet Adam and fight him, Kim and Haruko at the same time... but he also won.
Now, with the King's Crown on him, he was also growing more and more stronger by the second. But it's not all good news. Felix got separated from Kim on the Fifth Floor for whatever reason, and has yet to get reunited with him. He's basically gone missing. Though, that didn't stop him from moving onto the Sixth Floor, where he had to play detective and help out Nijiri and her father. That's also the Floor where he met Rose—
Felix's eyes immediately swung open, as he got up on his butt and looked around. His hand instinctively reached out to his shoulder and chest, only to find it... completely intact and scarless. His eyes scanned the white room he was in, the wooden swords on the floor, and the huge doors on the wall. Yeah... He was in the Resting Grounds.
He let out a long, frustrated sigh, running his hand through his scruffy black hair with an annoyed look on his face. Felix didn't like being alone in this big, white room... but since Kim wasn't in the corner, slashing away at the training dummies, it must've meant he wasn't back.
["Goddamn it, Kim..."]
Felix went to throw the blanket that was on him off, and to get up from the makeshift bed on the floor, only to realize that this blanket was... pretty heavy. He paused, confused, and raised an eyebrow, before looking down and seeing the small white haired demon sitting with her stomach on his legs, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, she was still pouting, lost in her own little world as she stared at the wall with a sad expression.
Felix's mouth was wide open, his face basically a big question mark. He leaned to the side a bit, as to get a closer look at her face, but she still hadn't noticed him being awake. Felix raised his knee a bit, bumping her and speaking as he did, "Uh, Rose...?"
Rose sighed deeply, still looking at the wall with a pout and sad, depressed look in her eyes, "Not now, I'm so worried..."
"Worried about... what, exactly?"
"Felix... He's been asleep for so long, I'm not even sure he's gonna wake up..."
"...Sounds, uh, rough. You think he's gonna make it?"
"Ugh, I'm not even sureee...! Why did he have to act like a darn hero and take the hit for me?!" she yelled angrily, throwing a tantrum and waving her arms and legs around, still staring at the wall, now with a mad pout replacing the old sad one.
Felix nodded slightly, snickering as he did, looking around the room as a small sigh escaped his lips, "Maybe I wanted to feel like the main character for a minute or two..."
The demon's eyes immediately bolted upwards at Felix's face, her mouth wide open. She then looked at his shoulder, back at his face, then once again at his shoulder. She blinked a few times, still shocked, then immediately jumped off of him as she yelped, "You're alive?!"
"Nice to see you, too, missy."
"Bu— But... You spent so much time sleeping, you... You...!"
Rose's eyes teared up a bit, before she started repeatedly punching Felix in the arm, using both of her hands. She started yelling, her eyes closed as she kept on "attacking" him, "What the frick do you mean, main character?! You're stupid! Stuuupid, y'hear! You're a human, you idiot! If you die, you're dead for good!"
Felix couldn't help but look down at Rose as she abused his left arm, chuckling slightly and shaking his head. He got up from the makeshift bed on the floor, patting her head as he did, while speaking in a sleepy tone, "Okay, okay, my hand didn't do anything. My whole body moved to block the hit."
"That doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a beating as well! You do, like, just in general!"
"So having a sword almost cut me in half wasn't punishment enough? You're so extreme, Rose..."
"Ugh... I— I know already, shut up..."
Felix smirked to himself as he stretched a bit, looking around the Resting Grounds. As he thought, the room was exactly like he and Kim left them before ascending to the Fifth Floor.
...Wait a minute, though?
Felix immediately turned back around, pointing at Rose, "Hold on just a damn minute, why are you here?! Go to your own Resting Grounds!"
"Whaaat?! You're so cruel, Felix! A cute girl needs a partner to climb The Line with and you're gonna kick her out of your room?! Meanie!"
"I'm not saying that! I'm asking why you're in my room! And, uh, Kim's too, I guess, but my point still stands!"
"How the frick should I know?! I woke up here too, after handling the situation with Niji!"
Felix looked at her, blinking and trying to understand the weirdest thing about Rose...
["So... This perverted demon... doesn't swear? Ehhh?"]
"That's... Well..."
Felix let out a long, deep sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Yes, it's true that they were in a Team when the Floor closed... Maybe it chose someone's room randomly? Or it might've even taken Kim's absence into consideration...
...Hey, wait another minute!
"Wait, again! What did you mean earlier, that humans die for good? Don't... demons die die, too?"
"Ehhh? Felix, you're such a weirdo... Everybody on Feneder knows demons don't die when killed, they just materialize back in Hullder! So silly..."
"Yeah, but I'm... from Earth, though...?"
Both of them shared a glance, staring at each other deep in the eyes, their expressions more blanker than their Blanks. Rose looked at Felix with her mouth open and her eyes wide, as Felix just kind of reached his hand up and scratched the back of his neck.
She was the first to speak, pointing at him confused, "...You're from erdh? Wuh?"
"It's... gonna be a long day..."
At the same time, in a completely different place, swords could be heard cutting through flesh and armor simultaneously. As the bloodied blade is retracted from the dead monster on the ground, Kim simply sheathes it back, annoyed – as he usually is. He looks back at, unfortunately, his two partners, Adam White and Haruko Aratashi. The three of them had been thrown into this dungeon, alone by themselves, by the Watcher. Kim clicked his tongue, his annoyance growing every second, as he gripped his sword's handle tightly, walking forwards.
That damned giant... Kim clearly remembers his words, even if a few days had passed since they talked to him.
"You three... are gonna need to get stronger if His plan is gonna work. Stronger than any other Liner. So, you're gonna go leveling up. And I'm not talking about Skills and Blanks."
Kim punched a nearby wall, his anger now also growing stronger by the second. As he walks away from the crumbling, dented cave wall, he looks around himself. He sighs, cracking his neck as he does, recapping what happened to him these past few days – first, he cleared the Fifth Floor by finding the Queen, although obviously someone beat him to it... He then awakened in a dark, big room alongside two other people, fought the giant oni who claimed to the the owner of said room, then he was thrown in this damn dungeon, to train, of all things?! This sucked.
...But, that's strange... He fought the giant, sure. But he couldn't quite recall... why. Why did he get so angry at the oni? No, now that Kim thought about it, that's not the only thing he couldn't seem to remember. His memory was... very, very spotty. Why was that...? He usually doesn't have this issue. His memory was excellent, even. So... Why?
"Who exactly... was I with before this...?"
Suddenly, a cough echoed through the big, white training room as Felix cleared his throat, still stretching slightly. He went low on the ground, stretching his legs, before jumping on the spot for a bit, trying to get himself working properly.
"Wait, wait, so you're telling me that your world has giant, metallic, flying birds?!"
"They're called planes, Rose. And that's not very impressive when you all have magic and whatnot..."
"Oh, please, frick magic! Your guys' stuff is so much cooler! A small entertainment box you carry around at all times...! Just how cool is that?!"
"Those are phones. Man, you really do have a way with words, Rose, I definitely wasn't wrong..."
Felix picked up a wooden sword from the ground, casually warming up his grip and posture. He swung at the air a bit, switching between stances and footings, then he threw the sword high in the air. Felix attempted to get it to change forms, only to remember it wasn't his actual weapon, so obviously it stayed as a sword. Right, because only his weapon can—
Ah.
The sword came down, hitting him straight across the head, then dropping to the floor with a somewhat loud "Clang!" followed by the sound of it settling down on the ground. Felix remained frozen, gazing at nothing in particular, though his eyes were wide and scared.
Rose noticed this sudden change in behavior, raising an eyebrow in confusion as she spoke, "Uh, Felix? What happened?"
"...My weapon..."
"Uhh, what was it... Something something Demon Blood? What about it?"
"...I didn't throw it into my inventory after the fight..."
"...Oh."
"Oh, indeed."
Felix stood there frozen for just another second, before rapidly and desperately reaching his hand out into nothingness and pulling out anything and everything from his inventory. He pulled out whichever objects were inside, even the Crown, as he held it high up in the air, while his other hand still went in and out of the Blank, grasping at stuff. Finally, finally, his hand landed on a soft, bloodied sphere, and he couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief, almost dropping to his knees from pure happiness.
"Oh my fuckin' daaays...! I thought I got screwed, big time..."
Rose looked at him, then up at the Crown, then back down at Felix's eyes. Soon enough, she yelled out, "You have the flipping Crown?! I thought the number one Liner had that!"
"Huh? This wasn't private information, the Crown?"
"A Blank told me about it right before the Fifth Floor... I'm guessing it was the same for everyone else..."
Felix smirked, putting it on his head and tilting over, bowing slightly as he mimicked a cool, elegant pose he once saw in a comic, "Aren't you happy you got paired with me, Rose?"
Rose looked at him for a second, with her both her eyes and mouth wide open, and some drool going down her face. She started pulling on her hoodie slightly, lifting it up, "Can we just...?"
Felix sighed, throwing the Crown back in his inventory and straightening back up as he started walking towards the two big doors on the wall, speaking as he did, "You're still weird, y'know?"
As he got to the doors, he pushed them open, revealing the white void sitting behind it, and the road towards the Seventh Floor. He stood in front of it, his hands in his pockets as his hair and clothes fluttered in the wind that came from beyond the whiteness of the void.
"So, you ready to go?"
Rose repeated the same thing as before, lifting her hoodie up slightly and revealing part of her stomach, "Readier than ever...?"
"We really need to have a talk about self-control when we come back here, dude?! Just how old are you, anyways...?"
"Uh, around one-hundred and eighty years old, why?" she replied, dropping her hoodie as she started walking forward, towards him and the door.
Felix just facepalmed, turning around and walking through the doors and into the white void, his expression exasperated as he pulled down on his face with both of his hands while speaking with a tired tone, "Of course you are..."