"There are three stages to this quest. The first stage is to eliminate the number of people to 200.

However, there are 2 rules abiding this stage:

☆ You are not to use any weapon in eliminating your opponent, they will have to surrender willingly without you laying a finger on them or that'll lead to disqualification and you'll be kicked out of the game.

☆ The second stage will start immediately the number of people are down to 200." The man says like a robot.

Without a break, he continues again. "The details of the second stage will be discussed after the first, so it could be while talking or in a fight with an opponent. Anything could happen at any given moment, so do not let your guard down. In five cycles you'll be teleported to the quest venue. Starting off in a group with your friend is highly unadvisable as you might end up having to hunt each other down." He says, a smile etching on his face. He is delighted while talking to us and I can tell by the layers of minute happiness in his tone. What a psycho! "The time has come warriors, farewell."

We share a familiar look before Kyle says. "Goodluck you guys, it's possible that we'd get separated in the fight. It might be a bloodbath so we should get prepared for the worst." Hey! Since when did he get to sound so smart... that's my thing!

"Yeah if anything goes wrong, send a message using the companion-i-chat. We'll communicate there and decide on how to help." We all nod in agreement and Black Hood broods behind us, watching us unsurprisingly with a bored expression.

Sir Lynton is back in five cycles, he clears his throat. "You will soon be teleported to the quest venue. Goodluck! May the strongest win."

There is a loud shriek from the front, then it travels to the middle before reaching us and I understand why these people are screaming off the roof of their lungs. My body disintegrates into tiny blue particles that gets absorbed into the air and slowly I dissappear into nothing. I watch as my friends dissappear too, Black Hood has his arms folded and he seems to be the only one not panicking, well besides me. I've seen too many weird things in this game to freak out about something like this. "Let's go Serena,"

°°°°

I open my eyes to a sunny and cloudy sky. I jump up, surveying my environment. The area is green and luscious, the smell of the west wind swoosh past me. This can only be a field for fighting. It isn't half as scary as I thought it would. Maybe I'm in the wrong place. First things first, "Serena are you up? Where am I?"

Yes I am. You seem to be in the arena of quests.

"The arena?"

They are separate events for quests. Usually preferred to be in areas away from residency. The radar of the arenas are off the map so it is often in an unknown place.

"So that's where I am." I say mostly to myself. I'm glad Serena didn't pick up on that, I would feel really dumb, repeating things like that. My stats are in the far lower corner of the screen, Peyton and Kyle's stats are by the left corner. I can't see their locations unfortunately so we got teleported to different places. In bold, The first stage: Elimination round is written. I'm gripped by sudden fear when I remember what the rules are: we just have to talk our opponent into surrendering. Nobody would actually try to kill or fight someone, right?

I send a message with the companion-i-chat.

C: Are you guys okay?

P: Yes. Kyle and I are in a different area than you. I don't know why we got teleported differently.

K: This always happen... must be normal for irregulars.

C: Oh shut up. Eyes on the game. Let's try to seek shelter till the first stage passes. As long as we don't get eliminated this round, we'll be fine.

P: Tell that to Kyle, this blockhead keeps trying to challenge someone to a fight. Would you please tell him that not everybody is interested in fighting a built tall idiot?

C: Stay out of trouble Kyle, which means keep low until it is time for the second round.

K: Fine, you guys are boring.

C: I know, but it's our best shot at surviving so shut it and just do as I say if you don't want to get kicked out early.

P: We'll talk later, let's go into hiding.

Stretching my arms, I stroll into the middle of the field, ensuring I have a good view of the field. There really isn't anywhere to hide, looking at the surrounding trees. "Which way do you think I should go?"

I would advise anywhere but West. The wind rushes in the most from that direction, indicating the little or no presence of life. It would probably be abandoned, except most players would be waiting there specifically because of that.

I muse over the information. South it is then. As long as I don't go West then I should be fine. I meander meticulously towards the South of my present location. Ten cycles in, I reach the end of the track. I turn back only to more trees. I am completely surrounded by trees and... lost.

What the firetruck? If this is a dead end, then should I end towards the opposite of this direction? That would be north, it's better than going West.

The trees lead me back to the open arena and I trail towards the North direction. I am boycotted by a towering figure soon, I stagger back in response, shocked by the sudden appearance of this manly figure. "Can I help you?"

"Well, well, if it isn't the irregular." The man cackles, he steps closer to me as I back away from him. "What's your name, little girl?"

Is this some kind of joke? Who is this creep breathing down my neck? I tip my chin up and puff out my chest. "What good would that information do you?"

He chuckles, "You could make this work the hard way or the easy way. It all depends on you. Either tell me what I want to hear and surrender or I get want I want from you by force and you surrender. Your call."

"Unfortunately, I won't be doing any of that." I tell him in defiance. He must be really dumb if I thinks I'll just surrender because of an empty threat like that or maybe it's not... I don't care.

"Brat," he mutters. "Well, I tried." He tries to approach me but I move out of the way at an extremely high speed. Or is he just the slow one? Speaking of slow, I can see all his movements before he attempts them so I can tell which part of my body he's going for. That's new.

"Woah, you're not supposed to attack during the first stage. Are you an idiot?" I holler right before he can grope me and slam me against the tree.

"With weapons, you're not. Who says I can't dislocate your shoulder to make you surrender since you're quite the stubborn type?" The man slurs and charges at me again. I easily move out of the way. He already tried that, I think by now he should know the same attack doesn't work twice. Left, left, right, right. Too easy.

"You pesky little brat, stay put would you?"

"No," I answer and watch his eye twitch before he dashes at me with the pure intention of killing me. He misses me because I duck before he has the opportunity to grab me. I kick his ass into nearby tree and shake my head. "You don't ever learn, do you?"

He stays in the bush for a long time so I assume he's knocked out, until his head re-emerges from the leaves. "Now, you're really dead!!" Right as he sprints for me, a triangular warning appears on my screen.

"Attention to all participants. The number of active individuals left in the quest is now down to 200. The second stage will soon begin. If you are caught still fighting an opponent during this period, you will be disqualified." The man glares at me and I sigh in relief, at least now he won't try to kill me anymore.

"I will explain the second stage to you now." The voice is coming from a speaker, I suppose. "You will be grouped into three categories. Rock, paper and scissors. Some already know the game, so you know that only rock can beat scissors, scissors can cut paper and paper can wrap rock. According to this three categories, you will be divided. It is merely a game of hunting and surviving."

I watch as my screen displays a series of new stats:

Number: 049
Position: Rock
Target: Scissors, 081
Total number of participants: 200

"Also, there are a few rules abiding this stage.
The Bloodbath:

☆ All the rules that apply to the first stage are irrelevant.

☆ You have to bring down your target by any means necessary, including the use of weapons and abilities. Their tags must be obtained.

☆ You can only attack your target and seize their tags. Retrieving someone else's tag who is in the same category of your target or in the same category with you amount to zero points."

"Now with that said, when this stage is over, participants will be notified. Good luck!"

The voice stops broadcasting abruptly and the man smiles widely while cleaning and dusting dirt off him. "You got lucky this time. I won't be so generous when next we meet."

"If we meet." I correct him. "Besides you're such a loudmouth, I'd probably hear you coming from miles away." I tell him and he clenches his fists but retracts from doing anything though, for the sake of the quest I guess.

He mutters under his breath as he stomps through the trees and in the other direction. I wonder if I've ever seen him before, he sort of looks like someone I've encountered before. Whatever.

I strategize an attack for my target. I need to bring him down if I ever want to get that tag. Who is my target anyway? It only states the number here but nothing about who it is. Maybe Peyton and Kyle would have an idea, assuming they're not kicked out of the game yet.

C: Still alive?

P: Affirmative. I don't know about Kyle though, we got separated.

K: Sure don't worry about me, I'm okay.

C: Not that I would care if you weren't. You guys know who your targets are?

P: No clue. Whoever 095 might be?

K: ...that's me.

What? My eyes squint at the message. Does it mean Peyton has to hunt him down? Wait that can't be right.

P: Shit.

C: Who's your target Kyle?

K: 119. I have no idea who that is.

C: You guys should remain calm, let's figure out a way to disarm your target so you can obtain his tag and Peyton can have yours.

K: Who says it's a he?

C: What?

K: My target. It could be a female.

C: Whatever.

K: I think I know who my target is.

Peyton and I respond immediately 'who???'

K: I mean she kinda looks like it, but I think Monica.

My heart sinks and my brows furrow simultaneously. Kyle's long-forgotten girlfriend? What's she doing here all of a sudden? You can't tell me she disappeared for that long only to come back and put Kyle in a tight spot.

P: Are you certain?

K: She's right in front of me.

P: That bitch! I'll be right there, where are you?

The connection breaks before I can tell Peyton to stop before things become more complicated. Shit! If Monica and Peyton end up in the same place... it won't be pretty. I already have my problems to deal with. Who the hell is 081 anyway? Aaaaargh this is so frustrating.

The shrubs ruffle a bit before a human emerges out of them. He stares at me with wide eyes before grinning. "Oh hello!" He greets and I turn to look at who he's looking at... nobody. Me then?

"Me?" I ask surprised.

"You don't remember me?" He smiles, while moving towards me. "I'm the guy you saved from the Dungeon the other day. Aki."

I squint at him then I flash black. Oh crap, it really is him. "Oh... you look so different now," is all I can manage to say. He was really roughened up and dishevelled in the Dungeon that day. But now he looks like a completely different person, the glasses hanging off the bridge of his nose still stay the same but his appearance is the opposite. His flawless golden brown hair curls down to his neck and his piercing green eyes are fixated on me.

"Do I?" He chuckles, "Well you do too." Is that supposed to be a compliment because if anything, I bet I look ten times worse.

"Are you looking for your target?"

"Yes," he answers, rather truthfully. "I heard he's strong."

Hmph... there are a lot of strong, overpowered crazy people I've met on this quests. He'd have to be a bit more specific.

"Exceptionally strong," he muses. I wonder who it is and at the same time feel bad for him. Aki doesn't look like the fighting type, I think he's more of a brainiac than brawn. Anyway all the best to him! I need to find my target and get the hell to wherever Peyton and Kyle are. "Who is your target?"

"I have no idea, 081." I say and immediately his body stiffens and I glance up at him. His expression is hard but relaxes after a while then he lets out a low chuckle... no way.

"Don't search too far then, I'm 081." My mouth is hanging open and all of a sudden, I feel awkward. I doubt he'd just willingly let me have it but I don't want to fight him. We are already off to a good start.

"I don't want to fight you."

"Me neither."

"Would you hand your tag over then?"

"I'm sorry, wish I could but without having my target's tag, I can't hand it over."

Well shoot. I've been running and searching for my target so I could beat him to a pulp and collect his tag only to come across this wonderful human being. Why, oh why???

"Maybe you just have to take it, irregular." A voice void of emotion comments and my heart beats twice as fast. I don't need to turn to tell it's Black Hood. His usual blank expression plastered on his face. Why does he follow me everywhere? What could he possibly want now? And of all the times? "I mean if you really want something, isn't it just easier to take it?"

Not everything works that way, I'm tempted to say but ask a basic question instead, like, "What do you want?"

"I'm looking for my target of course, 049, rock. You wouldn't happen to have seen anyone of such tag now, have you?"

"049?" My voice coming out a bit too high-pitched for my liking.

"Precisely," he states as if already knowing that it's me. Only now does he acknowledge Aki who has been standing there watching our exchange with a facial expression I can't decipher.

"You also wouldn't have happened to see my target, would you?" He asks Keanu.

"Why would I know that?"

"199, paper." He smiles, "My target."

Keanu only hardens his face on hearing this but makes no attempt to say anything. He turns to Aki, "Try to take it if you can." Even though he's looking at Aki, he says, most likely to me. "As for you, irregular. It's better if you just give me the tag. I don't want to hurt you."

Lies.

If he thinks I'll just willingly pass my tag to him, he's deeply mistaken. He'll have to take it from me.

"Well, this seems promising." Aki says with a smile.

°°°°

"049, 067, 011,187, 001, 099, 095, 081, 119, you all pass the quest." Sir Lynton clears his throat before adding, "199 too." He doesn't look too happy to declare this and Keanu doesn't seem to mind either.

"We did it! Can you believe it??" A hyper Peyton screams at me, almost crushing my eardrums in the process. I wasn't expecting my best friend to try and kill me after we passed the quest. I suppose she really just doesn't care about me.

She pulls me in a bone crushing hug before I can react, I just smile, understanding how happy she must be since I was so close to not passing the quest. I guess I have Aki to thank for that one. And maybe Keanu.

°°°°

"Hey, hey." Aki shivers away from the arrow embedded in the tree between him and I. "What are you doing?"

"Retrieving the tag and eliminating any posing threat," Keanu answers shortly before firing another one, directly at Aki.

"Threat?" He asks after dodging an arrow. "I'm not a threat. I just want your tag."

"And that makes you a threat." Keanu aims another arrow at him but I drag him into a nearby shrub and hush him. "Stop interfering in this, irregular."

"I'm saving a person's life here! Are you crazy??? You do realize that if the arrow hits him, he'll die." I yell from beneath the shrubs as we crawl and find a safe hiding spot.

"That's the point." I see him draw an arrow, aiming for something behind me.

"Say, why don't we talk like civilised humans? Just calm down and-" a brown long wooden arrow whizes past Aki and sticks into a tree very close to his face. He whimpers away from the arrow attached to a white note saying: No. "I see you don't want to talk then."

"Look there's a way we can settle this and it'll be a win-win for everybody. You just have to calm down and settle this amicably. I promise-" a second arrow is stuck in the tree I'm hiding behind, it narrowly bruises the tip of my ear. The note on this one says: I said stay out of it, irregular.

What an unreasonable, stubborn HD game character! Why won't he be logical and let us find a solution to this? Well I didn't want to do this but I suppose it has come to this.

Inventory: Silver-nunchuks.

The nunchuks fly into my hands, literally. I move it around, but accidentally cut a tree in half with one simple clean slice. Good enough! I doubt I'll need more training controlling this thing. Aki is watching me speechlessly the entire time. I march out of the shrubs and challenge Keanu on a one-one. His rarely active and serene grey eyes flare up when they zoom in on my firm grip holding the nunchuks. He has that same look he has when he's talking about irregulars. That menacing look that sends shivers down my spine. Why do I feel so threatened just by him glaring at my hand?

"Are those silver-nunchuks?" Then he shakes his head and chuckles, "I mean I expected a different weapon for each irregular, but nunchuks. Who would have thought?" He shakes his head again. "Can you even fight with that thing, besides injuring yourself?" He starts laughing and I can feel the blood coursing through my veins travel faster. Oh he did not just test my ability to fight with this weapon that I am strangely attracted to for reasons unknown to me.

I swing it haphazardly at first but the more I move it around, the more accustomed I am to the weight. I stop moving it at irregular paces and move it so expertly that I doubt even my own ability to do this? Am I being possessed by a ghost? Maybe. But that look on Keanu's face, that tiny little hint of terror hidden behind his emotionless face, that is what keeps me going, that is the expression I want, how does it feel like for the tables to turn against him? "Try me."

He doesn't move an inch, instead sneers at me. "Maybe I was wrong. So now I get to test you, what can you really do with that weapon, irregular?" His voice is full of emotions, the most prominent ones being hatred and anger. He is about to reach for the bow on his back when a sudden jerking out of a human from the bushes stops him.

"I have a solution!" Aki waves a white flag over his head and puts his palm forward, signalling for Keanu to hold on. "Instead of unnecessary blood shed... why not go for the option that's way easier and requires less effort. A win-win option."

Keanu seems to consider it for a while but he doesn't retract his defense stance. Aki looks at him expectantly and slowly, he draws his hand away from the bow and folds his arms over his chest. "I'm listening."

Aki's smile is wide spread and he stands in the middle of our heated gaze so that both our attentions are on him. "My target here will collect Carmine's tag, she will collect my tag, and I will collect my target's tag. Is that okay? The rules didn't mention absolute force must be included in obtaining the tags and it certainly didn't mention that you had to return with two tags. You can have your tag stolen from you, but you can't leave without your target's tag. That's most likely what the third stage would be about."

"And on what premise did you derive this conclusion from?" Black Hood questions. It's nice to see that he's even considering this, although I'll ignore that his sudden obedience has something of some sort to do with the way I swung the nunchuks earlier.

"Trust me, I did a lot of analyzing and calculating before coming for this quest. I have my basis quite okay and if I'm right, we need to obtain our target's tag in exactly 5 cycles. The number of people have dropped from 200 to 50. More people will get eliminated leaving a total of 10. And all that will happen in 5 cycles, meaning 5 people die or get their tags stolen by each cycle." I guessed right when I said Aki was a brainiac, no a fucking genius. "We have 4 cycles more, so what's it going to be?"

Black Hood takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes but when he opens them, they are back to normal but glaring into my own obsidian eyes that I doubt are either calm or serene, rather anything but that, flaming with anger should I say. "Fine. This isn't over, irregular." The bitterness in his tone is back. This time it doesn't make me want to cry, but makes me feel like I have the power to crawl under his skin. Like my existence alone tortures him and that's exactly what I want.

We all step away from each other, keeping an equal distance between us. We all throw our tags up and the person supposed to be in possession of it grabs it mid-air. That way, each person has the tag they are supposed to retrieve. A win-win.

New friend that has the brain of Albert Eistein and is really intelligent: 100.

Keanu backs away and heads towards a direction I couldn't quite pinpoint at the time, but not before leaving one of his signature notes though: We'll be seeing each other soon irregular, very soon.

Fine by me then, can't wait.

Four cycles after Keanu's departure, the third stage starts.

"Congratulations to all participants who have made it this far. The third stage now commences, the rules are as follows:

☆ You must arrive at the starting point with your target's tag but not with your tag alone. Returning with just your tag amounts to nothing.

☆ If your target is killed, or found in a state of inability to recover, you will be disqualified.

You will be teleported now. Once again, congratulations!" Immediately the voice stops broadcasting, I feel my body disintegrate into tiny green particles this time. Looking all around me, all I see is blood. It's a full on bloodbath, why didn't I ever notice?

This whole quest and the rules abiding it is a trick. A puzzle to solve. A king to checkmate. A matrix to fix. The second stage was to eliminate your target by any means possible, but if you ended up killing or severely injuring your target, you would be disqualified. It was more of a test to see if we could decide between two extreme ends. Between collecting the tags and killing our opponent. It had to be a precise movement, a checkmate. Keanu would have been eliminated if he had killed me to get the tag, but I would have been eliminated because I couldn't use brute force to collect Aki's tag. In this type of situation, pre-planning and thinking is the only way out. Only an intelligent person with quick thinking can pass it, someone like Aki.

I suppose we're being teleported back to the starting point, I clench the tag in my hand. Thanks to Aki, my head is still attached to my neck and several arrow holes aren't lying in my body. I can tell what danger is when I smell it, and back there, Keanu was ready to unleash the moster in him. He isn't called SSS-RATED for nothing.

I cringe at the boldness I had to talk to him, when I think about it now I could easily pee my pants. I just don't have clean pairs to replace them.

I scan the nine unfamiliar faces surrounding me for my friends. When I see Peyton, Kyle is standing behind her calmly but in a very subtle foul mood. Odd.

Sir Lynton gets on stage. It appears the other people who didn't die in the game but are without their's or the target's tag returned too. There are only ten of us who seemed to have come back with a tag. "049, 067, 011,187, 001, 099, 095, 081, 119, you all pass the quest." He clears his throat before adding, "199 too." He doesn't look too happy to declare this and Keanu doesn't seem to mind either.

"We did it! Can you believe it??" A hyper Peyton screams at me, almost crushing my eardrums in the process. I wasn't expecting my best friend to try and kill me after we passed the quest. I suppose she really just doesn't care about me.

She pulls me in a bone crushing hug before I can react, I just smile, understanding how happy she must be since we were so close to not passing the quest. I guess we have Aki to thank for that one. And maybe Keanu, or maybe not.

I feel weak all of a sudden. It must have something to do with the backlash I get from anytime I use those nunchuks. I have to rest, and after that I need to know why Kyle is in a bad mood or why Peyton is so bubbly, or why I can't seem to get Keanu off my mind. Why did he freeze when he saw my nunchuks? Why does he seem to know more about me than I do? Or whatever happened with Monica?

A/N:
4638 words!!! What the firetruck 😭😭😭🖤
This means so much to me.
Progress!! 🤩🤩