Arthur stood frozen, his body still trapped by whatever technique was on him.
These players had grown their abilities by a larger than average scale than the last time he'd met them. Now he was paying the price for his mistakes.
Yet despite his predicament, he remained calm.
If he understood Alice, her character was part of the Yamanaka clan. That meant that she was likely using the "Mind Destruction" technique, a technique that allows her to remotely control a target's body by infiltrating their nervous system.
This was impressive, to say the least, since she wasn't using any hand signs. But at the same time, he wasn't foreign to its mechanisms; he had learned how to break techniques like these after learning about them from her clan.
The players were bickering about something irrelevant, so Arthur used this opportunity to try and release the binding.
He concentrated his chakra, channeling it into his entire central nervous system. There, he could spot the strange fluctuations within his neurons. They were acting still as if non-existence.
Had he not also learned medical ninjutsu and had advanced chakra control, this would have been difficult to spot.
Now came restoring them to their normal state.
'Sage art: cell activation jutsu…'
Finally, in less than a second and with a sudden burst of chakra, he pushed against the binding and broke free.
"Amanohabaya," Jasper whispered.
The moment Arthur had twitched, a rod pierced his side, causing a sharp pain to course through his body!
His Sage Mode began to falter, and he was losing control of it fast. The pain had struck him hard.
No amount of healing techniques could stop it. He was forced to take a knee, face covered in sweat.
When he looked up, he saw Alice holding her head. She was a tad annoyed at him after having broken her technique.
Jasper himself was slowly walking in his direction with a smug grin. In his hand was a cyan-coloured ethereal sword, the likes of which had never been seen by anyone.
Arthur narrowed his eyes because of the pain trying to cloud his judgement.
The same sword in Jasper's hand had the same properties as the rod in his side. That technique was undoubtedly Tool Creation. But something was off: Tool Creation didn't have the ability to absorb or disrupt Sage Chakra.
Then something registered in his thoughts: Jasper had given everyone a demonstration of this technique once. When he showcased a little of it in the past, it was glowing red. This time, it was greenish in colour.
Now there was no doubt: Jasper had modified his technique to a degree that Arthur hadn't known about. Once again, he had been caught off guard.
"Ya almost got away with a fast one there," Jasper commented.
"That's on me," Alice added. "I should have stayed focused."
Arthur gritted his teeth. He had to find a way to counter this new technique. He focused on what was left of his remaining Sage Charka but failed.
His Sage Mode depleted!
His body felt like lead now, and his mind was fogging. The world around him seemed to slow down. Each movement became a Herculean effort. Blood trickled from his lips to the grass, and his vision became hazy.
Attempting to activate anything, like the Seven Heavenly Breaths technique, was now impossible. It required too much concentration.
He was trapped, his body paralyzed, and his chakra was still depleting at a constant rate. He was a sitting duck in the hands of his enemies.
His eyes scanned the grassland, searching for a way out. But where could he hide? Where could he run to? The land was vast, like the darkness that plagued this world.
Alice pulled Jada up, resting her arm across her own shoulders. The other players walked toward him, surrounding his figure.
He could barely make out their faces anymore, but he saw the inevitable outcome: he was going to die here.
Despair threatened to consume him, but he didn't allow it. Arthur was not that type of man. He had fought hard and pushed himself to his limit. Looking back at all his deeds, he didn't regret a single thing.
He closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
The life he had lived, both in this world and on earth, was a fulfilling one, a life in Christ with adventure and excitement while on earth.
He had made mistakes, sure, but he had also repented from his sins and learned how to be a better man, a perfect and holy one like his Father in heaven.
Arthur had loved and lost, and he had lived to tell the tale. What more could he ask for in his last dying moments?
As his consciousness began to fade, he thought of the players and of the bonds they could have formed together had he not been plunged in this dark world.
"What do we do with him now?" Margaret inquired, glancing around the group.
Her question was left unanswered. It was clear that while the players wanted to capture him, not all of them were too sure what they wanted to do afterwards.
Arthur remained still with his knee on the ground, the last remnants of his chakra draining by the second.
Jasper offered an immediate solution; bluntly, he said, "We kill off his character, of course! Quick and easy."
Arthur, to everyone's surprise, stirred a little. His eyes slowly opened, revealing that he still had the will not to give up.
Although his voice was weak, it was clear, something that sent a chill down their spines: "Wait…"
The group paused, glancing at each other in confusion before turning back to him. They were curious about what he would say next.
"Where's Alex…?"
William shook his head in disbelief and questioned, "You're worried about Alex of all times? I seriously thought you were gonna try and break free or something."
Jada felt a pang of sympathy for Arthur. His defeated state reminded her that she had a heart. So she asked Alice to bring them a little closer to give him an answer.
"He has his reasons for not coming. But Will's right. You should be worrying about your own self right now."
She watched his expression closely, noting the shadows of doubt flitting in his hazy eyes. There was a reason he had asked, right?
Arthur responded by slightly closing his upper eyelids. They were getting heavier by the moment.
"It's funny," he said in a weak voice. "Even though you guys put me in this mess, even if you don't believe me, even if you wish to kill me…" He then tilted his head to the sky, revealing a light in his eyes that had previously been obscured. His voice echoed with conviction in the stillness: "I will never lose faith…"
There was an intensity there—a resolute confidence that was unnerving. To Jada, it was like staring into a storm—unpredictable yet undeniably powerful. For the others, a shiver ran down their spines again, fear threatening to creep up on them. But why did they feel so nervous? They couldn't tell what it was.
Jada had been the only one to have seen Arthur weather storms—had witnessed the way he turned a setback to his advantage. But this time, it was different. The fierce defiance in his eyes spoke of a resilience that transcended the moment, a promise that no matter the odds, he would stand tall.
The others shifted, uncertainty bleeding into their expressions as they looked around to make sure nothing unexpected was about to happen.
Suddenly, a white puff of cloud erupted from beneath Arthur, enveloping his whole body. Alarmed at this sudden occurrence, Jada released herself from Alice and pushed her body forward. Her hands were outstretched as if trying to catch him.
But it was too late. Arthur had disappeared!
Her heart pounded in her chest and her instincts screamed at her, knowing that something was off from the start.
When the smoke fully dissipated, the players saw that Arthur's body was nowhere to be found, and Jada was left there bewildered. She screamed at the top of her lungs!
How could they have let this happen?
One moment he was there, unable to do a single thing—form a hand sign, barely talk—the next he was gone, vanished into thin air.
Alice, their resident sensor, closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them, her eyebrows knitted together, and she said, "He... he's gone. I can't sense him. He's not here anymore."
The entire group was left confused.
"How?!" Margaret asked incredulously. Her eyes darted around as if expecting Arthur to reappear at any moment. "He shouldn't have been able to use any jutsus. His chakra was too close to zero!"
Just as the tension threatened to consume most of them, Jasper released his sword, allowing it to disappear. He then folded his arm with a smirk across his face.
"Relax, plebs," he said nonchalantly. "Remember? My technique is still in effect. Even if that wannabe managed to pull off the impossible, the rod was taken with him." He paused, letting that sink in, relishing the dismay in everyone else's expression. "He's gonna die in a few seconds. There's nothing to worry about."
Despair overwhelmed Jada as she glanced back at the group. Guilt crawled up her insides.
"I'm so sorry," she mourned. "I called you guys here for nothing. I thought we could resolve this, but he got away."
"It's okay, Jada," William replied softly, walking over and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure this out."
Jasper's irritation became palpable as he shouted, "Hey! What are you blunderheads talking about?! Didn't you hear what I just said? You don't actually believe Arthur's gonna survive my Tool Creation, do you?!"
Little had they known, his technique was laced with Gelel energy. Even if by chance Arthur took out the rod, the draining effects was already in his blood; he was too much in a weakened state to do anything except die.
Before anyone could rebut, a sudden shift in the atmosphere caught their attention. It was subtle but undeniable—a change that made the hairs on the back of their necks stand up.
They looked up, and what they saw was remarkable: blue-coloured grid lines began to manifest across the sky, glowing faintly as they crisscrossed like an intricate web overhead.
"What is that?!" Alice gasped.
Jada's voice, though calm, carried a weight of finality after the gridlines passed.
"He's dead," she said, her eyes fixed on the spot where Arthur had once stood.
"How do you know?" Alice wondered, still a tad shaken at what she saw.
Jada hesitated, unsure of how to explain. She finally answered, "It's the rule Dr. Kapoor told me: if a player dies in this world, we'll know by that sign in the sky."
A collective silence fell over the group until Alice asked, "I wasn't told a thug about rules, so what are you talking about?"
Jada looked at her, unsure how to respond. She had assumed that everyone knew about that one rule added in this world. So she explained, "The rule about what happens when one of us dies."
"Just what the heck are you talking about?" Margaret asked, her confusion growing. Jasper and Alice found this piquing their interest.
William stepped forward and said, "That's not what I was told. Dr. Kapoor did mention one thing as I entered the pod. It was about the physical translations of our bodies to our avatars here."
Jasper snickered and added, "I was told that medical personnel would be monitoring our vital signs outside. I guess that meant I'd be in this experiment for months."
"Did she tell you moments after you entered the pod?" Alice asked.
"Ugh… yeah, actually."
The group exchanged glances. It was evident that this was their first conversation about unspoken rules given to different players at the last second.
"That's strange," Alice said. "What did the doc tell you, Marge?"
"She told me that we would all be here until I reached a conclusion—whatever that meant."
"So, Arthur might not be dead," William wondered, still confused.
Jada shook her head and replied, "No, he's dead. I'm sure of it. That sign in the sky was all the proof I needed. The rules were clear."
Jasper laughed, delighted that he had been the one to kill Arthur off. He was the first and only player to have done it, and wasn't sure what was going to happen next.
"Well," he said, "since he's out of all your hairs, I guess I deserve some credit."
The others rolled their eyes at Jasper's bravado. They knew that defeating Arthur had been a team effort, and it was important to acknowledge everyone's contribution—mainly Jada's.
"We need to focus on the bigger picture," Alice said, bringing the group back to the task at hand. "We need to find out what all those individual rules were and piece them together."
The others nodded in agreement.
"To do that," she continued, "we need to find out if Alex was told anything. And I got a slight hunch that he was."
Jasper knew she was referring to the lie Alex had told them after the Akatsuki's arrival. And whether Arthur had been told anything either wouldn't have mattered now—he was dead.
"I can ask Alex when I get back," William said. "Though it might take us a few hours to return to the village."
"What about you guys?" Jada asked Jasper and Alice.
The two revealed that they weren't that far from the Fire Country. Perhaps a few hours at best.
As everyone agreed to regroup at home for a much-needed debriefing, Jada released her technique, allowing them to return to where they previously were.
Her right eye then finally opened. She stood there for a few minutes, unable to shake off the feeling that there were still many unanswered questions.
This virtual world was filled with mysteries, and it felt like she was only scratching the surface.