"Upupupu!" MonoWither exclaimed happily from their throne. "We guess it's finally time for the end of this Show Trial! Please use the lever in front of you and cast your vote! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?! Oh, and make sure you actually vote for someone!"

Everybody hesitated as their hands hovered over their levers, listening as Sky's wails of agony filled the courtroom. Sky had murdered Jade, but was this the right thing to do, sacrificing their friend like this? They had all known Sky for years. He was always the cheerful, loyal, and compassionate one. He was a newlywed husband and father. They had never expected him to do something like this...

Ashley was the first one to move the lever and make her selection, but her face was troubled. Annie followed suit, choosing to stare down at the floor afterwards. Mitch, who was standing two spots away from Sky on the other side of Jade's portrait, released a long sigh before casting his vote. This led Jerome to reluctantly do the same before turning away. Ryan grit his teeth as he cast his vote, almost breaking off the lever in the process. Jordan was next, his hands shaking as though they were delivering the execution themselves. Husky slowly moved his lever to make his choice and held his breath afterwards. At the same time, Jason cast his vote while shutting his eyes tightly, refusing to look at what he was doing as he voted. Bonks looked like she was on the verge of breaking down as well when she cast her vote. Steven looked at Bart and Dave before shivering and moving the lever. Bodil let out a small whimper as he cast his vote.

Now Seto and Tyler were the only ones who hadn't voted. Seto stared at the screen in front of him, which had all of their names in a vertical list and a blinking arrow next to the first entry: Jade's name. Moving the lever up or down would make the arrow point at another name. He was clenching the lever tightly, but his arm refused to move. Come on, vote for him! his mind screamed. He's the killer!

But... Sky is going to die if I do this...

This is based off of majority rules and everyone's already voted for him. Plus, you're the one who caught him! This is already your fault! Just finish it!

Seto stared at Sky, whose sobs had reduced to mere sniffles. Still kneeling on the ground, Sky raised his head and looked up at Seto. His tearstained cheeks were blotched with red. Seto looked back at him before shutting his eyes tightly. "I'm sorry, Sky," Seto whispered remorsefully as he moved the lever to select Sky's name.

All eyes turned to Tyler as he stared with dilated pupils at the lever before him. "I... I can't... I can't do this..." Tyler said brokenly.

"Oh, just hurry up already!" MonoWither complained. "Come on, we want to get to the verdict!"

"Tyler..." Sky murmured.

Tyler looked at him. "Sky?"

Sky swallowed before nodding his head silently.

Tears slid down the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Drama Actor's face, tears that shone in the cold light of the courtroom, as he moved his lever and cast his vote.

Immediately a small table supporting a golden slot machine rose up in the center of the circle. The slot machine began clacking and whirring loudly. Pixelated faces of the participants spun rapidly (Seto noticed that Seth's and Jade's were grayed-out) before all three slots stopped on Sky's image. The words "GUILTY" flashed brightly as confetti burst from the machine.

MonoWither flew from his seat. "Finally! Took you long enough!"

Tyler glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Well, you guys got it correct! Sky, the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Squid Slayer, was the one who poisoned Jade!" MonoWither said happily, spinning around in circles.

Sky closed his eyes and rested his head against the podium stand in defeat, having lost all his energy and willpower to protest.

MonoWither's words cut into the group like knives.

"Sky..." Jason whispered, his eyes bulging in disbelief. "You... really killed her?"

Ryan slammed his fist down on the podium. "WHAT THE FUCK, SKY?!" he yelled, his anger failing to conceal the pain in his voice.

"I can't believe this..." Steven said quietly, shaking his head in denial. "I can't believe you would do something like this..."

The rest of the people were all too stunned and horrified to react. The fact that Sky had actually killed Jade in cold blood...

"Why?!" Tyler demanded, tears still streaming down his face. "WHY?!" He ran all the way over to Sky, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and pulled him up so he was standing. "WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" he shrieked as he began shaking Sky violently. Sky didn't move a muscle as Tyler shook him. There was a deadened, vacant expression on his face. His empty eyes were concealed by his sunglasses. "TELL ME!!!" 

"I had to..." Sky said finally, all traces of emotion gone.

"What do you mean?!" Tyler demanded hysterically. "What do you mean you had to?!"

Sky did not answer.

"It appears that Sky has taken a vow of silence, so allow us to explain for him!" MonoWither said. "Ahem! It all had to do with the motive we ever so graciously gave to you!"

"Motive? You mean the videos you showed us?" Jordan asked warily.

"Correct!" MonoWither replied. "Anyway, we think you'd all be interested in seeing what Sky saw that compelled him to commit such a horrendous crime..."

Sky didn't seem like he had heard MonoWither at all. Seto's soul filled with dread as MonoWither said, "Roll the clip!" A giant screen on the wall turned on to show...

...a wedding. Sky and Alesa's wedding, to be exact. The soon-to-be married couple stood on the altar, listening to the the officiant as he spoke. Sky was wearing his best tuxedo and Alesa was wearing a beautiful white dress. Seto remembered this day quite well; he had been invited to attend, after all.

"Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the officiant asked, turning to Sky.

Sky, who was beaming with joy, wasted no time in saying, "I do."

The officiant turned to Alesa. "And do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Alesa grinned, her eyes filled with elation. "I do."

"Then I hereby pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss."

Sky promptly wrapped his arms around Alesa and kissed her for a long, long time. Everyone cheered and applauded for the new couple. It was such a wonderful and jubilant moment...

...at least before MonoWither's gleeful yet malicious voice cut in. "Sky, the Super Duper Minecrafter Squid Slayer. Regarded as a hero for his courageous talent, he is now a husband and a father, ready to start a new life with his family..."

The scene changed to show Alesa rocking a baby cradle, crooning a lullaby to the child inside. MonoWither's voice continued ominously. "We definitely hope that nothing will happen to this new family that Sky treasures so much... That would be absolutely devastating, right?"

Right on cue, the video flickered. When the screen cleared, quite a few people cried out in horror. The room was now covered in golden flames, which licked across the floor and cast horrific shadows on the walls. Alesa was lying on the ground, her body mangled and covered in blood, although it could only be seen from behind. The baby in the cradle was wailing and shrieking, but neither one of his parents were there to save him from the fire that would soon consume him...

"Oh dear! Oh no! We spoke too soon, something did happen to his family!" MonoWither's voice exclaimed. "This is terrible! This is awful! What could have possibly happened to Sky's wife and child while he was away?! Are they dead or are they still alive somehow?!"

The video cut to black before the words "FIND OUT AFTER THE SHOW!" popped up on the screen.

There was a horrified silence as the video ended. Sky was now clutching his dark curly locks and digging his nails into his head, gritting his teeth. Tyler, still standing next to him, was hyperventilating like he was on the verge of having a panic attack.

"Sky..." Seto whispered after a few moments of silence. "I thought you said that you didn't think the videos were real..."

"Yeah... you told us that yourself..." Jerome said quietly.

Sky removed his hands from his head and began to laugh bitterly. "Of course those videos aren't real. There's no way."

Mitch struggled to speak. "Then... why did you...?"

"I just wanted to make sure..." Sky said in a hollow voice. "I just wanted to confirm that it wasn't real..."

With those words, everyone realized that Sky did believe that the video was real. Perhaps, out of all of them, he'd believed it the most...

"Then why did you kill Jade?!" Annie shrieked, tears streaming down her face. "She was only 16!"

Sky raised his head and stared up at the blue-and-gold checkered ceiling. "Why her? Because I couldn't kill any of you guys... My friends..."

"But if you weren't caught, then we would have all died anyway," Ashley murmured.

Sky winced and crossed his arms over his chest. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry?!" Husky shrieked. "We could have gotten out together! Why did you have to murder someone? Why did you... Why?" Then he choked up and couldn't say another word.

Sky stared at the mudkip before averting his gaze, filled with shame. "I'm sorry," he repeated, taking a shaky breath. "I'm sorry Seto, for making it seem like you were the killer... I didn't know what else to do..."

Seto's voice was barely audible. "Why did you ask me if I was the murderer when you already knew the answer?"

"I... I just..." Sky whispered. "For a moment, I wanted to think it was you who did it... Not me..." He wiped his eyes and suppressed a sob. "I'm so sorry everyone... I didn't want to do this at all... I didn't want to kill anybody..."

"Upupupu! But you still did! And you know what that means?" MonoWither asked, barely able to contain their excitement. "It means that it's time for the blackened to be punished!"

Fear crossed Sky's face as he staggered backwards. "W-Wait a sec!" he yelled desperately. "Can't we talk about this?!"

"Of course not! You failed to convince the others you weren't the murderer, they all voted for you, and thus you must be executed! Sorry, but that's the rules!" MonoWither replied, not sounding sorry at all.

"NO!" Bodil yelled in horror, his face stark white.

"You're heartless!" Bonks shrieked, weeping openly. "Sky has a family!"

"You can't call us heartless when Sky's the one who murdered someone!" MonoWither said. "It's a life for a life! We're just doing our parts as your hosts!"

"Fuck you!!!" Jason screeched, his blue eyes filled with pure hatred and sadness. "I hate you so much!!!"

Ashley growled and put her foot on the podium stand, ready to leap upwards and tackle MonoWither in midair, but Ryan grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let me go!" Ashley insisted as she tried to wrench her arm from his grip.

"It's no use!" Ryan hissed. "MonoWither's too strong!"

Ashley put her foot down, pried his fingers from her arm, and glared at him; however, she did not attack MonoWither.

Tyler stood in front of Sky protectively. "Wait! Let me take his place!" he begged. "Please!"

"Tyler, don't!" Sky yelled in alarm, although it looked like he was torn between his morals and his desire to live.

"Well this was unexpected! You're truly willing to sacrifice your life to save Sky?" MonoWither asked, tilting their three heads in interest.

Tyler nodded without hesitation.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sky hissed, his eyes wide with fear.

"It's better me than you," Tyler replied.

Sky shook his head frantically. "But- But you can't just-"

Tyler rested his hands on Sky's shoulders. "Sky, it's going to be okay," he said, smiling. "If it turns out that those videos are fake, then..." His smile broke for one second before it returned, slightly more forced than before. "...then tell my family I said 'Hi', and that I love them, okay?"

"Tyler..." Sky whispered.

"How touching! But before you get ahead of yourself, the judges will have to decide whether or not this sacrifice can be allowed in the first place!" MonoWither said, closing their eyes. A few moments later, all of their heads burst into laughter. "The verdict is in! You're in luck, Tyler!" Relief washed over Tyler's face. Sky looked away and shut his eyes tightly.

"All three of us agreed..." MonoWither's red eyes gleamed. "...that you're incredibly stupid for trying to pull that off!"

Tyler's eyes widened in horror. "Wh-What?"

"Did you really think we'd let you do some heroic sacrifice? Your dramatic performance tugged at our heartstrings, but honestly! Only the blackened will be punished, and the blackened alone! We aren't going to break our own rules! Besides, we think it'll cause you so much despair if you watch Sky perish..."

"Please, MonoWither!" Tyler pleaded, clasping his hands together. "Don't kill Sky! I'll do anything!"

"No! We've already decided! Sky will be the one to be executed, not you!"

Seto ran over to the two and formed a purple force field around the three of them. "You're not executing anyone, MonoWither," he said with determination as he glared at the machine.

"Ooh, is that a challenge?" MonoWither asked, flying down so that they were inches away from the forcefield and directly in front of Seto's face. "Well then, here's our move!" MonoWither suddenly flashed white before exploding. The sheer force of the blast shook the ground and almost broke the force field, but not quite. Beads of sweat ran down Seto's forehead as he struggled to keep the barrier up.

The blast wasn't even that strong, why did it weaken my forcefield that much?

"MonoWither... exploded?" Jason asked in bewilderment.

Jordan raised his eyebrows. "Does that mean they're gone?"

"Ha! Of course not!" Sure enough, a spare version of MonoWither reappeared. "It'd take more than that to take us down!" All three heads swiveled to face Seto. "Are you done yet?"

Seto's legs quivered like jelly. "No..." he forced out, despite the fact that he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up.

"Ugh, fine, be like that!" MonoWither complained. A bunch of claws holding obsidian blocks came out of the wall and began slamming against the force field. Each blow made Seto gasp in agony. His head, still weak from the concussion, began to throb painfully. He sank to his knees but stubbornly refused to let the barrier break.

Tyler stood completely still, covering his mouth with his hands as he stared up at the claws that continued to relentlessly rain blows down on the force field.

"Seto, stop it!" Sky shrieked. "It's useless! You're hurting yourself!"

"NO!" Seto shouted, his chest heaving as he took labored, heavy breaths. Each blow shook him to the core. Blood began to drip from his nose as he mustered all the strength he had to keep going. "If... I don't... then you'll die..." He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let Sky die. He couldn't let MonoWither win. He had to keep on going, or else...

One of the claws tossed a lit TNT block, which exploded. It was the final blow. The force field shattered and Seto cried out as he collapsed face-first to the floor. His whole body shook as he attempted to stand up again, but all his energy was spent. Seto's hands flickered purple as he tried to form another force field, but it was fruitless.

Seto struggled to speak. "Why... are my powers..."

"...so weak now?" MonoWither finished. Seto blinked in confusion. "We guess that 'painkiller' we gave you really did its job! We couldn't have you using your powers willy-nilly during the trial, could we?"

Two claws lifted Seto and Tyler up and placed them back by their respective podium stands (although Seto's claw more or less just dropped him on the floor). "Have you all had enough yet?" MonoWither asked, their voice unusually deadly as they moved back to their throne. "Would anyone else like to challenge us? You're only delaying the inevitable!"

There was only silence. Several people looked like they wanted nothing more than to tear MonoWither to pieces, but they wisely chose not to.

Seto grit his teeth and gripped the bars, pulling himself up so that he was barely standing on his legs. He wiped the blood that was dripping from his nose. "I... I'm not... giving up..."

"Stop! Just stop!" Sky ordered in a shrill voice. "It's okay, Seto! I- I'm done running away from all of this..." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm done trying to avoid what I got myself into... This is all my fault anyway..." Sky laughed brokenly. "Jade... I wonder if I'll meet her in the afterlife..." 

He swallowed. "I'm sorry everyone. I didn't want to sacrifice any of you. I didn't want to kill her. But I... I did anyway. I hope you guys don't make the same mistake I did, and that you'll all get out of here somehow..." Sky turned to MonoWither. "Just one last thing, before you start the punishment. I want to know if the video was real or not."

"Upupupu!" MonoWither giggled. "Too bad, you didn't end the show, so you'll never know!"

A desperate look crossed Sky's face. "Is it real or is it not?! What happened to Tyler and Alesa?! Are they dead or are they alive?!" MonoWither cackled giddily. Sky slammed his fists against his stand. "TELL ME! PLEASE!!!"

"Now then, we've prepared a very special punishment for Sky, the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Squid Slayer!"

"N-No..." Sky whispered, his face devoid of color as he shook his head in denial. "I won't believe it's real... It's all fake..." He began to choke out a lost, irrevocable sob. "TYLER!!!" Sky howled, tears running down his cheeks. "ALESA!!!"

Sky's desperate, hopeless scream echoed throughout the courtroom as a red button rose in front of MonoWither. Once again, a claw emerged from the wall and held a wooden gavel in the air. Monowither's red eyes gleamed before they slammed the gavel down on the button.

~~~

https://youtu.be/Pdl4K7oud8o

SHOW'S OVER: SKY HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT!

Sky stood there, trembling with anger and fear as he clutched his podium stand so hard, his knuckles were white and the wood seemed like it was about to be crushed in his hands. The wild look in his eyes was masked by his sunglasses as he looked around at the faces of his friends, begging for salvation.

A metal claw came out of nowhere, latched around his neck, and pulled him back. Sky cried out in surprise and reached his arm out before he was dragged through a dark hallway, his body skidding across the floor. All of the remaining people tried to run after his quickly disappearing figure (except for Seto, who was too weak to move from his podium), but the door closed before they could make it into the hallway. Tyler began to scream and bang his fists against the door to no avail.

The giant screen on the wall turned on to show Sky as the claw dragged him into a glass enclosure. The door to the enclosure slammed shut. "WARNING: DANGEROUS AQUATIC ANIMALS INSIDE" was what the sign on the door said. The survivors all gathered around the screen, watching Sky with horrified dread.

The claw let Sky go and disappeared. Sky, who was lying on sand, slowly picked himself up and looked around, warily noticing his surroundings. He was standing in front of a large round pool in the center of the enclosure, its cold depths concealed by inky shadows. Encircling his island of sand was a thick ring of water. Sky stood there, his amulet glowing in the slight darkness, when all of a sudden the glowstone lights flashed on.

It was like watching a gladiator show from the ancient times, Seto realized with horror.

All of a sudden, squids began emerging from the ring of water. Sky looked afraid for a moment, but that gave way to anger as he grit his teeth and glared daggers at them. If he was going to die, he was going to go down with dignity.

Seto saw Sky take something out of his pocket and clutch it tightly in his left hand, but whatever it was, it was too small to see.

The numerous squids crawled across the sand towards the center, reaching their sinuous tentacles towards Sky. Sky backed away slowly, still staring at them defiantly, when he got too close to the pool. All of a sudden a bunch of tentacles latched onto his ankles from behind and pulled, making him fall forward. Taken by surprise, Sky unsuccessfully struggled to haul himself out of the tight grip of the squids as they pulled his legs down into the water. His left hand was still clasping the mysterious item in a tight fist, but his right hand scrabbled for purchase in the sand.

Unfortunately, the squids on the island grabbed his arms and pushed him, sending him falling into the pool with a splash.

The view switched to a camera on the ceiling right above the pool. The camera dipped down below the surface to show the rest of the scene. Countless squids all holding golden swords swirled around Sky in a frenzy. Sky reached his right hand out towards the dimming light of the surface, thrashing and writhing as he was dragged downwards into the darkness. His mouth was opened in a muted scream that took the form of countless bubbles that spewed from his lips. His sunglasses had fallen off and his golden eyes were wide open in a terror that Seto had seen many times before, a terror so full of despair and desperation that it rooted Seto to the spot and paralyzed him instantly.

It was the terror of someone who knew they were about to breathe their last.

In a crazed desire consumed by bloodlust, the squids began to stab Sky with their swords over and over and over again, endlessly, nonstop. Sky's agonized screams of pain were muffled by the water. A dark cloud of crimson blood filled the pool, concealing Sky from sight. The only thing that could still be seen of him was his hand, still outstretched towards the unattainable light of the surface...

In the end, this was what would haunt Seto the most in his nightmares. It wasn't the look of unbridled terror on Sky's face as he was pulled towards his doom. It wasn't the copious amount of blood that had somehow come from one person. It was Sky's hand and the way it continued to reach out for that disappearing light, despite the torturous pain he must have suffered as he was stabbed repeatedly to death...

It only lasted for about fifteen seconds, but to Seto it felt like hours before the squids finally dispersed. The thick cloud of blood spread apart and dissipated as Sky's body drifted downwards into the dark depths of the pool, his limp arm still reaching out. Sky's eyes and mouth were wide open and that look of terror was now permanently etched onto his face. Small tendrils of blood rose from the countless stab wounds that covered his lifeless body as Sky sank deeper and deeper until he was out of sight.

No one could look away from the bloody, chaotic spectacle. Everyone had remained silent as they watched Sky, their friend, get killed in an utterly cruel fashion. They were all petrified, rooted to the spot, with their own expressions of complete shock, horror, and disbelief.

Finally, the thing that Sky had been clutching tightly throughout the entire ordeal slipped from his cold fingers and floated upwards to the surface. It was a photograph of Sky and Alesa, who was lying on a hospital bed and cradling a baby in her arms. They were staring at the camera. Alesa was smiling despite her exhaustion and her red hair clung to the sweat that dampened her forehead. Sky had the proud, awestruck grin of a new father who was so very happy to be with his new family...

This was what Sky had killed for and died for.

This was what Sky would never see again.

~~~

All was silent before MonoWither exclaimed, "AWWW YEAH!!! THAT WAS BRUTAL!!!"

"NO! NOOO!!!" Tyler shrieked in agony, clutching his head with his hands. "SKY!!!"

Annie's voice was a mere whisper. "S-Sky... He's... oh god..."

"No..." Jason said, his voice shaking. "It can't be..."

"I- I can't-" Husky stammered, his eyes wide open with disbelief. "Why-"

"This is all just a bad dream!!!" Bodil screamed, hitting his head with his fists. "None of this is real! I just need to wake up!"

"Fuck- Oh fuck!" Ryan cursed, trembling where he stood.

"Language, Ryan!" MonoWither scolded. "Remember, this is all going on TV and I don't want too much profanity!"

"You're fucking sick!" Jerome yelled.

"Someday we'll avenge Sky's death!" Mitch vowed, angrily glaring at the monochromatic Wither.

"And Seth's and Jade's deaths as well!" Ashley yelled. Her hand had its fingers spread as though they were about to claw off MonoWither's three faces with one swipe.

"Such courageous words coming from insignificant side characters!" MonoWither said. "But insignificant side characters don't defeat the antagonist! Only the protagonist does! If you don't want to go through this again, then just cut your attachments from the outside world and accept your new lives here with your casting roles! Don't murder anyone! It's that simple!"

"Shut up!!!" Jordan shouted. "This is all your fault! You're the ones who killed our friends!"

"Oh, we're the one who killed them? Seth broke Rule Number 5, Jade was stupid enough to open the door and let the killer in, and Sky knew what he was getting into when he murdered that mere teenage fangirl in cold blood! We were only getting rid of a despicable excuse of a human being when we executed him! And how can you still call Sky a 'friend' when he committed the worst possible crime of all?!"

"He was forced to!" Steven declared, clinging onto Bart and Dave as if they would suddenly be killed as well. Seto had never seen the blue-and-white shirted man so furious before. "He would never have killed her if it wasn't for that sick, twisted video you showed him!"

"He was only trying to get back to his family!" Bonks shrieked.

"Have none of you given a thought to what Jade saw in her video?" MonoWither asked. "Jade saw her own family! She had two loving parents and an older sister! She was only 16! But Sky took away her chance of knowing what happened to them for the sake of his own purely selfish desires!" MonoWither suddenly turned to face Seto. "Oh, poor Seto..."

Seto looked up and glared at the machine. "What?" he said through his teeth.

"You were starting to get to know Jade, huh? What a shock you had when you found her body! You didn't even know how to feel! And that moment when you realized that the one who killed her was Sky, your very first friend..." Seto shut his eyes tightly and tried unsuccessfully to ignore the sadistic machine. MonoWither suddenly frowned. "Oh, but you're the one who called Sky out on his lies, right? How horrifying! Callously sending off your best friend to die? Only someone with a lack of humanity could accomplish that-"

"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!!!" Seto howled as he suddenly slammed his fists onto the podium stand. "How... dare... you..." he hissed, seething with rage as he dug his nails into the wood. Tears were streaming down his face and he angrily wiped them away with his gray sleeve. If only he'd been able to keep his force field up... If only he hadn't taken that pill... "Sky... Jade... Seth... those deaths were all caused by you..." He struggled to speak through the aching pain that burned in his throat. "But none of us... None of us will give in...!"

Everyone stared at Seto with moved silence as the sorcerer pointed at MonoWither with a shaky finger. "We will not fall into your trap! We will prove you wrong! For their sake... For Sky's and Seth's and Jade's... we will escape from this place without killing anybody!!!"

MonoWither was silent. "And so the protagonist speaks," the middle head spoke quietly, all traces of typical cheerfulness gone in that one sentence.

Seto blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, boast all you want!" MonoWither declared with glee. "Because the first Show Trial is over! And we know that there'll be many more to come!" MonoWither turned to a camera on the wall. "That was some emotional stuff right there! We're sure you viewers are just soaking it up! Who do you think will crack next? Who do you think will be betrayed next? We're sure that you're all just dying to know, but those are questions that'll have to be answered later! And with that, the first part of 'Super Duper Minecrafters' has come to a close! Stay tuned for more!"

Everyone stood there, not knowing what to say. Perhaps there really was nothing to say. After all, with everything that had happened in just five days, their grief could not be properly expressed. Tyler was still sobbing inconsolably, however.

Seto stared at the floor, still gripping his podium in much the same way that Sky had before he'd been dragged off. For some reason he was thinking of Sky and Alesa's wedding day and how happy everyone had been to see the couple start their new lives together...

It was only a few months ago when they'd been wed. It felt like years now.

"C-Come on, Seto..." Bonks whispered quietly. "It's time to go back..."

Seto's eyes continued to stare at the floor, unable to move.

"Seto..." Bonks murmured, tapping his shoulder.

Seto finally let go of the podium and followed the rest of the people, who trudged back to the elevator with slow footsteps that echoed with a hollow tone. Sky's body sinking into the inky black depths of the pool haunted them all...

If pain had a taste, Seto thought, it would surely be similar to that of salty tears and coppery blood.

PART 01 - EITHER LIVE OR DIE / it's up for me to decide

END

STILL ALIVE: 16 - 3 = 13 PARTICIPANTS

ITEM GET! You acquired the present "Purple-And-Gold Amulet".