'What's that?' I woke up, exhausted, to an alarm that rang loudly beside me. My ears tingled from the harsh tones it made, compelling me to awake from my sleep.
I groaned in exhaustion, cuddling myself back to sleep in the softness of the bed. The alarm kept chiming, each tone louder than the previous one. I hesitantly pulled my legs from the bed and onto the floor, rubbing my eyes.
I slowly opened my eyes and shifted my gaze to the source of the sound—the phone. My eyes widened in an instant, light rushing in with ease as memories flooded my mind.
'It can't be...' I quickly picked up the phone, gripped with tension and anxiety, but eventually took a look at its screen.
[Time's Up! Time's Up!]
The screen displayed the above text in a dark bold text in contrast to its white background. I searched around the screen for the countdown but I couldn't find any.
I had taken a quick nap a few hours ago as a reward for my overthinking and strenuous experiences. Unfortunately, I had somehow managed to oversleep, causing me to wake up to such a surprising situation.
I quickly changed my clothes from the ones I currently wore which were filled with dust and little pieces of glass. As I packed a small bag with the lunchbox and a few other necessities, my ears caught sounds outside my room.
It was chaotic, much more than the previous time I had exited the room to change. This time was different—as though everyone had come out from their rooms. I heard occasional arguments, and a few young ones constantly asked for information with fear evident as they spoke.
'Okay, time to find out what's going on,' I stated in confidence as I slowly pulled the door open.
'Hi–' I was immediately cut off by the intense heat in the hallway crowded with individuals. I pushed myself through the tight area to a more isolated one with the intention of grasping the situation.
I saw Noelle, shy as ever, and walked up to her with a casual expression on my face. I extended my arm as a means of salutation as she reluctantly returned my greetings with a shaky voice.
'Hi there, do you know what is going on?' She asked, more courageous than usual. Her question meant that everyone, or at least most of the people, was clueless about what the countdown and alarm were for, and perhaps that was why they were all waiting around in the hallway.
Deviating from my initial intention, I readjusted my bag and eased my expression to loosen the atmosphere.
'Did you see any dark-skinned male pass by? Big round eyes, large build. Anything familiar?' I questioned, hoping for an answer.
She slightly tilted her head, suggesting that she was clueless about what I spoke about, and so I dismissed the topic and proceeded to normal salutations. From what Noelle had said, neither she nor anyone she had seen knew what was happening. However, that fact was quite evident.
Luckily, the familiar light-skinned man pitched in, in his usual deep tone.
'Order!' He commanded silence as though in a court of law and proceeded into the hallway with a mean look on his face.
'Follow me, I'll show you all something.' He began walking towards the staircase—the most convenient way of following him considering our large number. As usual, he didn't care to explain where he took us, but I, for one, was eager to follow as the materialization of Blaze sparked my excitement once more.
I followed him as well as the others, and after a few moments, Noelle joined the crowd and followed the man's lead. The staircase was a long journey although it didn't induce fatigue to us thanks to the injection and our mana.
'This is looking exciting!' I was overjoyed, following his lead with a slight grin on my face as I heightened my bag to avoid it from being hit by others.
After a few minutes of walking, we were met with an end to the staircase. It didn't lead to the waiting room like the elevator did; rather, it led to an empty field. I hadn't seen it before, and it looked calm and lively, although it was completely abandoned, much like every other structure.
The man grabbed a seat, which he had conveniently placed at the end of the field, and he brought out a few folded papers from both his pockets. He sat down, merged the papers, and arranged them as we stood before him, waiting for instructions.
'What is he planning to do?' A man in the crowd asked. His face was still young, but his height and voice suggested he was older, probably in his early 20s.
The man who sat before us cleared his throat, effortlessly grabbing our attention as he opened his mouth to speak. He arranged his hair, although completely unnecessary, and dropped the properly arranged papers on his lap.
'Ah yes, my diamonds,' he stated, sighing midway during his speech.
The nickname 'diamonds' was familiar and soon I remembered who had first used it. It was the woman at the train, using it unusually and suddenly. At first, I thought it was a harmless nickname, but it began sounding more mysterious—as though it was a title used to refer to us.
'I've brought you here for one reason and that reason is to divide you into teams. You see, the countdown you witnessed was a countdown to hell. Of course, not the literal hell. In fact, it's much worse than that,' his sinister tone raised concern, and eventually, a few people began murmuring. He immediately silenced them and continued with his ominous speech.
'This is the statement of events. I'll call you all in groups of three in order of your strengths. The last group I shall call will be the strongest and the first will be the weakest. However, among each group, I will appoint the strongest as the leader of that group.
Once I'm done, you'll wait quietly until I signal you all to proceed with me. Now, I expect all of you to show compliance and maturity as that's the exact reason every one of you is in a specific age bracket,' he concluded. He raised the stack of paper, abruptly swung it, and squinted. He cleared his throat once more and raised his head towards us, maintaining a steady vision towards us.
'Now, I'll begin calling.' A stretch of silence overcame the area as everyone waited to know who would be called first—the weakest of us all.