The gates slammed shut with a metallic finality that echoed like thunder. Haruki flinched at the sound, his shoulders tensing as though the giant doors had locked away his last hope of escape.
Before him stretched a battlefield that looked stitched together from nightmares. Jagged stone bridges jutted across bottomless chasms.
Groves of skeletal trees swayed in a mist so thick it swallowed shapes whole. In the distance, rivers of glowing magma pulsed like living veins, casting an eerie red glow over broken ruins.
The air itself was heavy, thick with mana so raw it stung Haruki's lungs with every breath. Sparks of energy drifted like fireflies, searing his skin when they landed.
Around him, the other candidates wasted no time. Groups broke apart like armies splitting ranks some sprinted forward with weapons drawn, their movements crisp and practiced, while others huddled into squads with a familiarity that spoke of long training.
Haruki, standing alone, was the only one frozen in place.
His gauntlets hummed faintly, responding to his spiraling nerves.
[Alert: User heart rate rising rapidly. Blood pressure unstable. Estimated time until collapse: three minutes.]
"Not helping," Haruki muttered, clutching his chest.
[Correction: You asked for status updates. I am updating your status. Don't blame me for your weak cardiovascular system.]
A voice, ancient and booming, reverberated across the arena, making the cracked earth tremble.
"Trial One: Survive. Only half of you will leave these gates alive. The rest will be consumed by Bantings."
A shudder swept through the crowd. Weapons were raised higher. Spells lit up palms.
Haruki's stomach clenched. Consumed?
And then
ROOOOOAAARRRR!
From the mist ahead, shapes lunged forward dozens of Bantings, twisted nightmares with jagged fangs, spindly limbs, and glowing eyes that burned with hunger. Some crawled on too many legs. Others bounded on muscular frames, claws carving deep trenches into the earth.
The candidates erupted into chaos. Screams mixed with battle cries. Fireballs and arrows streaked across the sky. The first clash rang out in a cacophony of steel against flesh.
Haruki stumbled backward, instinct screaming at him to hide, to shrink away, to find a corner where death wouldn't notice him.
But death noticed.
The nearest Banting turned its many eyes on him.
The Banting's guttural snarl rattled Haruki's bones. Its wolfish body rippled with muscle, claws longer than his arms, and every step it took shook the cracked earth.
A boy beside him shrieked, dropping his weapon as panic took over. He bolted toward the mist straight into the beast's path.
"Wait !" Haruki's warning came too late.
The Banting pounced. One swipe of its claws split the boy's torso open. His scream ended in a wet gurgle as blood painted the ground. The Banting sank its fangs in and tore.
Haruki's stomach churned violently. He staggered back, bile rising to his throat. His body screamed at him to run, hide, vanish into the fog before something else noticed him.
This isn't a game. This is real. He's… dead.
For a heartbeat, Haruki froze. His knees threatened to give out.
But then, a memory surged stark and suffocating. The sterile ceiling of his hospital room. The tangle of wires binding his fragile body. The pitying looks of doctors as they whispered outside his door.
Powerless. Caged. Forgotten.
"No," Haruki hissed through clenched teeth. His fists trembled as his gauntlets pulsed with light. "Not again."
The gauntlets shifted, morphing into twin short blades that gleamed with raw energy. His hands felt heavy, clumsy but steady enough to grip.
The Banting finished its grisly meal and turned, eyes locking on Haruki. Drool mixed with blood dripped from its maw as it crouched, preparing to spring.
Every nerve in Haruki's body screamed, Run!
Instead, he forced his legs to move forward. "If this world's going to kill me," he whispered, "then it's going to have to fight for it."
The Banting lunged, claws flashing.
Haruki rolled clumsily to the side, his body scraping across jagged stone. Pain shot through his ribs. He barely avoided being torn in half.
He lashed out blindly with his blade. Metal met flesh. Sparks crackled as the edge grazed the Banting's leg. The beast shrieked, staggering for a split second.
[Damage dealt: 5%. User combat skill: laughably amateur.]
"Not now, Zero!" Haruki spat, scrambling to his feet.
[Correction: You should be thanking me. I'm analyzing your failure rate so you can die more efficiently.]
Haruki tightened his grip on the blades, sweat streaming down his face. His arms ached already, his chest heaved, but his eyes locked on the monster with a stubborn flame.
He slashed again. And again. Each strike weak, desperate but refusing to stop.
The Banting roared, more enraged than injured, and charged once more.
The Banting's roar echoed as it lunged again. Haruki's arms shook from exhaustion; his blades were trembling in his grip. He braced himself, teeth grit, ready to take the hit if it meant stabbing the monster one more time.
Then
TWANG!
A streak of green light shot past him, piercing straight through the Banting's glowing eye. The beast shrieked, thrashing wildly before collapsing into a heap of ash that scattered on the wind.
Haruki blinked. His blades drooped in disbelief.
"What… just…?"
"Move, idiot!"
The voice was sharp, female, and laced with irritation.
Haruki turned.
A girl stood a few paces away, bow raised, the string humming faintly with lingering mana. She had long emerald hair tied into a loose braid, pointed ears twitching slightly, and a grin that seemed both playful and mocking at once.
But the strangest thing? Every movement she made sent clinks of gold coins tumbling from the pouch at her hip. A ridiculous amount. It jingled so loudly Haruki wondered how monsters hadn't already heard her coming.
She noticed him staring. "What? Never seen an elf before?"
Haruki opened his mouth, but words tangled in his throat. "I ..I ..uh .."
[User vocabulary malfunction detected.]
Haruki groaned. "Zero, not now."
The girl cocked an eyebrow, lips curling. "You're weird. Anyway, name's Kana. You looked like you were about to be dog food, so…" She gestured lazily toward the fading ash. "You're welcome."
Haruki bristled, trying to salvage his pride. "I was handling it"
Kana laughed outright. "Sure you were. Totally had it under control while flailing like a dying chicken."
Haruki's face burned. "That's ! I wasn't !"
[Correction: That's an accurate description.]
"Ugh, shut up!" Haruki snapped at both of them, though he wasn't sure who annoyed him more.
Kana twirled her bow with a flourish, smirk never fading. "Relax. You're still alive, aren't you? Stick with me, rookie. I don't mind carrying dead weight as long as you don't slow me down too much."
Before Haruki could reply, she pivoted smoothly, firing another glowing arrow into the mist. A Banting lurking nearby screeched and fell to ash before it even got close.
Kana chuckled, eyes bright with excitement. "This trial's more fun than I thought."
Haruki stared at her half exasperated, half impressed.
"…She's insane," he muttered under his breath.
[Correction: She's competent. Unlike someone I know.]
Haruki sighed. "Why do I feel like this partnership is going to kill me faster than the monsters?"
The battlefield pulsed with chaos. Screams echoed. Bantings tore through weaker candidates like paper dolls. Haruki barely caught his breath before a shadow loomed another beast lunging straight for him.
His muscles tensed, gauntlets reshaping into blades. He raised them shakily, prepared to clash
CRACK!
A bolt of lightning split the air, slamming into the Banting mid-leap. The beast convulsed violently, flesh seared black, before collapsing into a pile of ash that scattered at Haruki's feet.
Haruki flinched back, eyes wide. "What the?"
A blur moved across the battlefield, faster than his eyes could follow. Blue sparks lit up the mist, flashing again and again as Bantings fell one after another.
Finally, the blur slowed, resolving into a boy about Haruki's age. He wore dark, close-fitting cloth that looked tailored for speed, twin daggers in hand, both crackling faintly with residual lightning. His black hair clung damply to his forehead, eyes sharp and calculating as they swept the carnage.
Haruki's breath caught. The guy radiated the kind of strength that made the air itself heavy.
The boy's gaze snapped to him. "You."
Haruki stiffened. "M-me?"
"You're slow," the boy said flatly, voice clipped and efficient. "Stay behind me if you don't want to die."
Haruki bristled, stung by the blunt dismissal. "Excuse me, I just"
Another Banting lunged from the side. Before Haruki could even move, the boy blurred forward. His daggers flashed in two precise arcs, faster than Haruki could blink. Lightning surged, frying the monster from inside out. It collapsed in a smoking heap before dissolving.
The boy didn't even look winded. He turned slightly, giving Haruki a sideways glance. "My name's Rai. Try not to drag me down."
Haruki's jaw worked. "Drag you? Hey, I was holding my own before you showed up!"
[Correction: False. User survival chances prior to intervention: 13%.]
Haruki clenched his fists. "Zero, I swear"
But Rai was already moving again, cutting down another Banting in a blur of motion. His movements were sharp, efficient, almost surgical. He didn't waste energy. He didn't stumble. He was the exact opposite of Haruki.
Kana's laugh rang out as she fired another arrow nearby. "Looks like the lightning brat found himself a puppy!"
Rai scowled at her. "Don't compare me to you, elf. And don't compare him to me."
Haruki bristled again. "Hey!"
But neither of them paid him much mind.
For a moment, Haruki stood in their shadows, painfully aware of how out of place he seemed. Yet something burned inside him anger, determination, maybe both.
He wasn't going to let them write him off so easily.
The battlefield was a nightmare orchestra screams, roars, the clash of steel against flesh. Smoke and ash swirled with the scent of blood.
Kana moved like she was dancing, every arrow singing through the air with unerring precision. She laughed between shots, like the chaos thrilled her.
Rai was lightning incarnate, his blades carving arcs of electricity that turned Bantings to ash faster than they could roar. He was calm, efficient, a machine of destruction.
And then there was Haruki.
His blades shook in his hands. His dodges were late, sloppy. Every swing was wide, fueled by desperation rather than skill. He stumbled more than he struck.
[Observation: You are objectively the weakest member of this trio. Current kill count: Kana – 12. Rai – 15. You – 1, by accident.]
"Shut up, Zero!" Haruki snarled, ducking under a claw swipe. His heart pounded, sweat stung his eyes, but he forced his body to move.
A Banting lunged, jagged fangs snapping. Haruki rolled aside, clumsy but alive. He slashed blindly, his blade grazing its leg. Sparks of energy flickered and the beast howled, staggering.
Haruki panted. "See? I'm not completely useless."
[Correction: That was luck. Probability of repeat success: less than 20%.]
Haruki gritted his teeth. He could run. He could let Kana and Rai handle everything. That's what everyone expected of him—dead weight, someone to be protected or ignored.
But he remembered the hospital bed. The pitying stares. The ceiling that had been his prison.
No more.
Another Banting cornered him, its eyes glowing, maw opening wide to swallow him whole. For a heartbeat, fear froze him then his gauntlets pulsed.
They reshaped, lengthening into a heavy spear that vibrated with raw energy.
Haruki's grip tightened. His body moved not graceful, not perfect, but driven by sheer refusal to die. He lunged forward.
The spear shot straight through the Banting's skull.
BOOM!
The beast convulsed before dissolving into ash. The shockwave rattled Haruki's bones, but he stayed standing, gasping, staring at the weapon in his hands.
[Critical hit. Efficiency: 65%. Remarkable for someone so pathetic.]
Haruki's lips curled into a shaky grin. "Guess I'm full of surprises."
Kana whistled from a distance. "Huh. Puppy's got teeth after all."
Rai glanced at him briefly, unreadable.
Haruki's chest heaved, fire burning in his eyes. He wasn't Kana's toy, or Rai's burden, or Zero's joke.
He was here. He was fighting.
And he wasn't going to stop.