Cyrus had really hope that the ‘stupid Brit lady’ would not go, either, but as it had happened already, there was nothing he could do about it. And with Zeifar’s sudden silence, he didn’t feel like telling her anything.

  They were in what seemed to be an office building’s hall room, the type of place where most places held summits—clearly, this was not a summit.

  [Welcome to one of Galactix’s many Lobbies. All Contestants of #9739 are welcomed to Lobby#02.]

  He looked around. There were not as many people as he’d expected, but it made sense too.

  “Only four from Dubai? I heard Dubai was strong?” A heavy voice laughed. It was familiar European accent, Russian. A tall woman with pale hair stood on the part of the room closest to them, a glass of wine in her hand and a stethoscope hung around her neck.

  “You look familiar,” she pointed at Zeifar, who smiled, it was somehow still sweet, “Of course you do, Jane. My name’s Zeifar, don’t you remember?” The woman blinked a few times, then burst out into a grin, “Not sure I do, but nice meeting you…ah, I see,” her eyes landed on Kazerin, who raised her eyebrows, “So that’s the little one my Stellar told me about,” Jane laughed.

  “Who are you exactly?” Kazerin asked, a bit annoyed.

  “Oh? You don’t know Jane Reilov? That’s—” “Miss Jane!” a young boy interrupted in the same heavy accent, “Please do not bother others!” he dragged her away by the arm, giving the three an apologetic glance.

  “…who was that?” Cyrus asked. He hadn’t expected seeing another kid his age here.

  “Jane Reilov and Maiv Nichovic, two of Russia’s strongest,” Zeifar answered, “One’s a doctor, the other’s a high-schooler.”

  She knew everyone here—Mika was efficient in his work.

  “How—never mind,” Cyrus didn’t need to know, “But what exactly is this?” he asked.

  “The Lobby is just, you know, like a hotel Lobby. You can wait here if you want…” Zeifar’s eyes glowed even in the bright office-lights, “Those stairs you see there, the second floor is the way to the Stellars’ little party,” she motioned with her head.

  [All Contestants present are allowed to attend the Stellar Meetup. Time: 24:00

  Starting of Rounds will be announced soon.]

  “Come on, let’s see,” Kazerin said, ignoring Lauraleith behind them.

  ****

  “Ah!” the man in front of the portal stopped, “Why is this so weird?” he asked in a Spanish accent.

  “Shut up, you’re wasting time,” the other next to him scolded as they walked through.

  Following behind, the others entered.

  Zeifar looked around the giant, gloomy place. The entrance had no one except contestants, but the place resembled an old palace with large stairs leading to probably a large banquet hall. She could feel the power buzzing in the air, though it might as well have been anger burning her blood, and she could also see,

  [Master, you are now in the presence of many Stellars. They seem to be very interested in you.]

  Even her usually hyper System seemed serious.

  A message popped up,

  [Many Stellars are interested in you.]

  Her eyes darted to the second floor, which seemed to be veiled by a curtain of darkness, but from it she could see eyes.

  ‘Creepy,’ she noted.

  [All Contestants’ Skills have been stopped.]

  That was expected. It was a Dimension where only Stellars could use Skills—in Zeifar’s opinion, not having Skills in the presence of Stellars was good. At least they would not try to kill her due to intimidation. Though, she had a feeling that not all of her Skills had been nullified, it didn’t matter. She didn’t plan on using them anyways.

  Envelopes glitched in front of all of them, who were all too distracted to talk to each other.

  [“Those envelopes are invitations—also, you should change your clothes…I doubt the Stellars would appreciate the blood,”] Mika’s voice said. He didn’t know where the blood had come from, and he had a feeling that asking now wasn’t a good idea.

  Zeifar rolled her eyes and walked off to the bathroom to change.

  ****

  Zeifar had gotten a single black envelope with a red stamp, whereas most people had gotten many. Inside the envelope were basically directions to which ‘tables’ (groups) of Stellars wanted to meet them. The higher-level groups had rooms for their tables.

  She checked herself in the bathroom mirror, “I look like a truck ran me over…but in a hot way,” she commented, straightening her suit. She tried to ignore the feeling at the back of her mind; it could be dealt with later.

  “Gosh, you got only one envelope?” a drunk voice asked in Russian.

  Zeifar let out a breath, reminding herself that murder was not allowed at a Stellar Banquet.

  “Yes, Miss Reilov,” Zeifar sighed, walking out.

  “See you later during the announcements for the Rankings for Traditionals, Ms. Dubai!” Jane waved. Zeifar nodded, closing the door and opening her envelope.

  ‘Second Floor, Table.13’

  “Goodness, they’re so predictable.”

  ****

  The second floor was indeed a big banquet, there were tables full of people, but none walked up to Zeifar. Each was busy with Contestants; she did notice many eyes on her. That was natural, even without a pretty smile on her face, Zeifar was noticeable. In an attractive way or in a scary way…that depended on the person, really.

  The private rooms were aligned to the indoor balcony overlooking the entrance-floor.

  As it happened to be, Table.13 was in Room.13.

  Zeifar smirked, “Of course they have a private room.” Sighing, she knocked twice on the dark wooden door with a gold plate, ‘13’ written in glossy red.

  The knob clicked, the eyes of what seemed to be a black cat blinked. Zeifar blinked, too. It was a black cat.

  {“Card?”} the cat asked, an unrealistically feminine and serene voice—that cat was definitely not a cat.

  Zeifar smiled and held up her envelope. The feline eyes squinted at it.

  {“Fine, come inside,”} the cat rolled its eyes, which was somehow possible for it.

  The door shut on Zeifar’s face as it disappeared. She stood there, eyebrows raised.

  The door opened again, this time with a lady much shorter than Zeifar, yet she shone with power. Curly burgundy hair fell all the way to her waist as she smiled, amused, the black dress made the green eyes of hers almost enchanting.

  {“For a bit, I thought you might stay back for your friends,”} her hand ran over the shirt Zeifar was wearing—it instantly ironed itself.

  “Thanks,” Zeifar replied. Persephone’s eyes glinted like gems, {“Why’re you still standing there? There are eyes on you, dear,”} she said, as tentacles of darkness surrounded them. Before following them into the room, Zeifar glanced around once more—a pair of annoyed golden eyes met hers from across the hall, on the other side of the balcony. Raziel. She moved her eyes away: not the time. She didn’t need to face Adrian’s Stellar—she knew why he was mad. Adrian had not come with her.

  ****

  {“Dear, you might scare her! She’s from a sort of underworld too, you know,”} Persephone winked at Zeifar.

  The girl shook her head, “Uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

  Not all of the Underworld’s Stellars were present, yet even these few radiated enough power to make normal Stellars shiver.

  Zeifar wondered what exactly she had done to earn their attention. If she remembered correctly, the System had told her that ‘Underworld’ was one of those overpowered groups of Stellars. She couldn’t complain—her goal was the Top Stellars, after all.

  A dark haired man in a suit that looked expensive enough to buy 20 Americas, and an aura similar to Persephone, gave Zeifar a look: Hades.

  {“Hello!”} another voice, a bit boyish but deep, the speaker, too, had a bit of a boyish charm unlike Hades and Persephone’s regal air. Blue-ish black hair tied back, his hair looked like it was made of silk—did every Stellar of the Underworld look so expensive? Deep red eyes, he was certainly good-looking, but Zeifar found herself thinking he wasn’t the best looking, either. Compared to Mika, at least, he didn’t seem that good-looking, which was odd considering a lot, ‘Mika’s hair looks better.’

  {“Mesmerized?”} Anubis laughed.

  “Not exactly,” Zeifar laughed back, “There are only a few people here.”

  He nodded, {“Not all of them wanted to visit,”} his eyes darted to her, {“You know there are more of us?”} She nodded like it was obvious, taking a seat.

  The others shared looks.

  “Oh,” Zeifar realized, “That is what I’ve been told, that there’s a lot of Stellars here,” she added casually. She wasn’t sure if her lies were still undetectable, but it wasn’t a lie.

  ‘Did Mirror Void get nullified?” she wondered, though she knew the System wouldn’t respond now, she had told it to not communicate with her while she was amidst Stellars, something gave her the feeling that Stellars would notice the System.

  {“You seem to know most of us,”} a pretty girl leaned over the table, she looked like a teenager, in pink clothes the mix of modern and traditional Korean clothes. She looked at Zeifar curiously, pink ribbons and clips decorating her dark hair, {“You know me, too, right?”} she asked, a little cutely.

  Zeifar nodded, “Ethan’s supporting Stellar,” saying their actual names didn’t feel like a good idea.

  Princess Bari smiled, {“You’re interesting.”}

  The next one to speak was older, unlike Anubis and Princess Bari’s teen-ish charms, similar to Hades and more mature-looking, though his hair was white as snow and his eyes were a deep, cold brown—a big contrast to Hades’ fiery gold eyes.

  {“My lady, stop making useless conversations,”} he sighed, {“But it does make me wonder…”} he raised an eyebrow at the only normal human among them.

  She nodded, “I know you too, sir.”

  Another from the Korean underworld, King Yeomna—or that was the name she knew, she wasn’t sure of the variations.

  {“Why didn’t the Jade Emperor visit?”} Anubis asked, pouring himself a glass of wine.

  Princess Bari made an annoyed face, {“That man pretends to be a great, nice Heavenly being, that’s why.”}

  Zeifar sat there, silently sipping tea, listening in on the latest Stellar-gossip.

  {“He’s busy acting like a good person,”} a much older man laughed. He had a complexion similar to Anubis, bronzish, and his hair, too, was similar but more saturated than the boy’s. Osiris.

  “Feels like a fever dream,” Zeifar muttered.

  Persephone smiled, {“I suppose it sort of is.”}

  “Hmmm…” Zeifar stared at her cup.

  A knock came from the door.

  {“Come on in,”} Persephone sighed.

  Someone burst in, clearly late,

  {“Sorry.”}

  Zeifar stared at Damian, silent and her eyes wide, utterly confused.

  The two stared at each other, the same expression on both faces,

  {“You’re here?!”}

  “You’re here?!”

  ****

  “Don’t even try to tell me we’re twins,” Zeifar sighed, leaning over the balcony.

  Damian had a hand on his face, leaning next to her, {“Trust me, that’s exactly what this is.”}

  “Did you explain this to them?” she pointed at the door.

  {“It’s none of their business,”} he replied, turning towards the railing, {“I doubt anything I tell you will even make sense.”}

  Zeifar smiled lightly, amused as usual, “Nothing ever does. I’ll believe it anyways.”

  Damian raised an eyebrow, {“Even if I tell you we’re actual twins?”}

  “My mom had me. Like, there’s pictures. I was not born with a brother,” she replied.

  {“Yeah, so was I,”} he replied, {“We’re…Noviar Anomalies. A Twin-Anomaly, to be exact,”} he said, his voice low.

  She wasn’t sure what that meant, “So?”

  He let out a chuckle, {“Ask that boy of yours what it means, he can explain it better than me. He’s really competent, you know.”}

  “I know,” she laughed, “But you need to stay in touch.”

  {“I will, don’t worry about that. I’m Damian,”} he held out a hand, {“Consider me…an ally, for now.”}

  “Okay, Damian,” she shook his hand, “Allies.”

  ****

  The ‘twins’ were back inside the room, and none of the Stellars asked anything.

  Zeifar knew why, it was rather obvious Damian wasn’t just any simple boy.

  But all of this couldn’t have just been for a random hangout. What was the actual point of this?

  She looked around the table, “Umm,” all the eyes turned to her curiously, “What are you all, in terms of…everything?”

  {“Are you asking what sort of group we are?”} Anubis asked, he sitting next to her.

  She nodded.

  {“We’re like…”} he looked at Damian on her other side for help, {“How do I explain this?”}

  Persephone began laughing, {“It’s simple! We’re just what she is in her world, but for Stellars,”} her eyes twinkled mischievously, {“The Underworld.”}

  So Zeifar was correct.

  “Ah,” it was hard to hold back a grin.

  Damian sighed, then whispered to her, {“I’ll let you know as your long lost brother, don’t trust these guys. They find loopholes like it’s their job.”}

  She laughed out, “Okay then, fake brother.”

  He raised an eyebrow—the other Stellars couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable by the two’s uncanny resemblance. The same orange eyes, the same hair, the same amused smirk which could make anyone’s heart race. Damian, as a Stellar, had always been popular due to his looks. Now there was a girl, too.

  [Voting and Donations for Traditionals’ Rankings have started.]

  “Oh, so this is why this event exists. To earn the favor and get a higher Rank,” Zeifar realized.

  {“Yeah, that’s why most contestants are busy bootlicking right now,”} Damian picked up a pastry from a tray.

  {“Makes me wonder why you aren’t,”} Princess Bari added. Her eyes looked into Zeifar’s from across the table. Two deep, never-ending shadows, like black holes instead of irises.

  A smile cracked at the corner of the Stellar’s mouth, {“She doesn’t flinch, huh?”} Bari laughed, {“A lot like you, Damian.”}

  Zeifar shrugged, “Doctor said I have low sensitivity. Takes me longer to flinch.”

  Her ‘twin’ looked at himself, {“I wonder if I do too…”}

  {“Are you not worried about your Ranking?”} Osiris asked.

  She shook her head, “Why is it even important?”

  {“Well, for starters, it gives some advantages when starting,”} Damian said.

  She made a face, “Having an advantage in Skill won’t help if I don’t even know what to do.”

  The room became quiet. All of the Stellars in front of the girl were a bit surprised. Not even Damian was like this.

  {“Most Contestants only think of how to survive,”} Hades mentioned. It was the first time he’d spoken through the entire conversation.

  “I can’t survive if I don’t advance,” Zeifar nonchalantly said, now more interested in her own pastry. She hadn’t gotten any other invites, so at least she could eat something.

  “I can eat this right?” she asked, looking at Damian.

  He sighed, {“Yeah.”}

  Happily, his twin continued eating.

  The others all shared look. They all agreed on the same thing for the first time in a while: ‘This kid is weird.’

  ****

  “Ah! I’m so full! Who knew this food would be so good?” Zeifar yawned, “Why’re there no other contestants here, though?”

  {“Most of them didn’t make it to Traditionals, they’re back in #9739,”} Bari answered, sighing, {“When will the results come in?”} she whiningly asked Yeomna, who shrugged, {“I could not tell you, my lady.”}

  Zeifar sat boredly at the table as the Stellars continued to chit-chat.

  Anubis leaned towards her, a tab in his hand, {“Psst! Look,”} he was, as it seemed, watching #9739’s Rounds.

  “They’ve started already?” she whispered, watching the tab under the table. Anubis nodded.

  Damian leaned in to watch, too.

  On the screen, Adrian was fighting—or to be more exact, flying at the speed of light—around a Tier-5 monster inside a Dungeon. It was fascinating to watch.

  {“I heard you ignored a lot of other invites,”} Osiris said to Zeifar. Her eyes moved away from the tab, “What?” she asked, “I didn’t get any others.”

  The Stellars went silent, all blinking in confusion.

  Only two of them didn’t look very surprised.

  All eyes turned to Persephone first, who shrugged, {“What?! I had to pull a few strings!”} her eyes sparkled.

  Damian nodded, the notorious partner in crime, {“She might not have come here if she got all those letters.”}

  “…good point, I suppose,” Zeifar agreed, “But I would’ve come here anyways. Those other groups would only try to get me to represent them.”

  {“Smart, but what makes you think we won’t?”} Bari asked.

  The girl smiled, “Because that’s not how the Underworld works?”

  ****

  The Underworld surely did work in ways which were unpredictable.

  All of Galactix was, though it did not seem like it, uneasy. Every Stellar had been feeling off ever since the power-hungry boy Jack had asked to become one of them. Power-balance shifts were felt by them quite often, but the shift which they had felt from #9739 was inexplicably weird. They had no other words to describe it either—it was simply weird. Something about that World felt new, and they were not sure whether this ‘new’ was good or bad. Or both.

  Only that the shift of power had caused another shift inside #9739. Some of the Stellars had only heard of theories like this, but those were only theories. This was not just a theory, and they were not sure what exactly was going on. A ‘Domino effect’ as some described it.

  What made these Stellars more uneasy was the fact that #9739’s Ranking was of Celestial level, meaning the shift in power to make it fall under Noviar Rounds had to have enough power to imbalance a world so powerful—because Noviar Laws would not take action unless there was an imbalance.

  Enough power to cause imbalance in a Celestial-ranked world meant that the ‘domino effect’, or shift, which happened inside #9739 was just as powerful.

  As much as that was already a lot of dangerous knowledge, there was one thing these Stellars just could not figure out:

  This ‘internal shift’ happened to be a single person.

  And they had no clue who it was, and unfortunately, neither did this person know.

  ****

  Mika stared at the Stellar before him, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu.

  {“Well, can you explain it to her?”} Damian asked, arms folded.

  He nodded, dazed, “Sir, you look creepily like Zeifar.”

  The Stellar rolled his eyes, {“I told you all this info only people like me know, and that’s what you’re concerned about?”}

  “You…you’re saying the concept of Noviar Anomalies is real?” Mika questioned, blinking rapidly.

  Damian nodded, then glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot, {“Listen here man, if this gets out to anyone,”} he took in a deep breath and leaned closer, orange eyes glaring, {“I’m not going to think twice before killing you. I don’t care if you’ve got somethin’ going on with Zeifar.”}

  The other sucked in a breath. It felt exactly like getting threatened by Zeifar—except she would never threaten Mika, and even if she did it wouldn’t have been so direct. Damian felt like a wilder, untamed flame. Zeifar was like the core of a planet—warm but deadly.

  “I wasn’t planning on telling anyone,” Mika sighed, pushing his hair back, “I’ve been a Conductor for a while, you know. And,” his green eyes looked down, it could’ve been due to his height, or it could’ve been something else, “I’m sure you know I’m not a big fan of your type.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  {“Stellars? Oh right, you’re the guy that killed a Stella—”} Damian didn’t finish the sentence. Mika raised an eyebrow, swirls of purple shadows surrounding them, “Go on. I killed a what?”

  There was a smile at the corners of the Stellar’s lips, {“A Stellar. I’m sure you won’t kill your brother-in-law, right?”}

  ‘Brother-in-law, my ass,’ Mika thought to himself, a tab appearing in his hand, “Anyways, I’ve got work to do. And by the way,” he added, walking away,

  “Just because I’m a Conductor doesn’t mean I can’t kill another Stellar.”

  {“…”} Damian stared at his own hand: there was a business card,

  {“How interesting.”}

  ****

  [“The Rankings will now be announced.”]

  A screen appeared on the first floor, where all the Contestants had to gather again.

  Zeifar leaned against a stone pillar, staring at the screen, distracted. There was a memory in her mind which made her confused. Her business partner floated in the center of the big hall, he was a Director level Conductor, after all.

  Her eyes met Persephone’s, who waved from the 2nd floor balcony. Many Stellars stood by the Balcony, eager to know the results. Anubis seemed to have made a bet with Damian and Bari on the results.

  Mika continued saying,

  [“The Rankings will be shown on the screen,”] and disappeared to the 2nd floor.

  The screen showed each person’s face zoomed in and their Rank.

  At least a hundred people.

  [#010] [Lauraleith Maria Alexander]

  [#009] [Chanel Maki]

  [#008] [Rayah Chowdhury]

  [#007] …it kept going.

  Most of them were young, Zeifar didn’t know them, but she’d seen them talking to fairly powerful Stellars.

  ‘Probably placed me 5th,’ she thought to herself, taking a sip of the nameless drink Anubis had given here. It was sweet—so she didn’t notice when the screen skipped over to 3rd,

  [#003] [Maiv Nichovic]

  The young boy blinked, clearly surprised.

  She scoffed. The idea of this tiny kid of barely 16 going to a death-game made her want to punch a Stellar in the face. All eyes were now on Jane Reilov and Zeifar. Jane’s eyes, drunken and malicious, looked at the girl.

  “Why is this taking so long,” Zeifar muttered under her breath, it was as if the screen had slowed down on purpose.

  Two enchanting green eyes locked into Zeifar’s sunset-orange ones.

  “Gosh you’re so overdramatic,” she mouthed to Persephone, who only laughed silently,

  [#002]

  “Oh goodness, what trouble.”

  [Jane Reilov]

  The young racer took in a deep breath, the eyes which had been on her just a moment ago had been curious—now they were plain hostile.

  “Welp, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Zeifar shrugged.

  [#001] [Zeifar Nadir]

  ****

  Mika walked along Zeifar to the rooms given to the Contestants by Stellars.

  Room 13, again, but on the 3rd floor.

  “Did you sign with any Stellar?” he asked.

  “No,” she answered, taking the keys out of her pocket.

  “The Underworld, seriously…” he muttered.

  “You’ve been earning more, haven’t you?” she asked, unlocking the dark wooden door. It swung open to a dark room, similar to a standard hotel room, scented like fresh paper and polish—along with the subtle hint of something like sandalwood and roses. She realized the smell of roses was coming from the many vases in the room.

  “Will we get food, too?” Zeifar asked, closing the door behind them.

  Mika nodded, his eyes still searching. Two bright orange eyes nearly knocked his soul out of his body,

  “What’re you searching for, pretty-boy?” he realized he had already ignored two of her questions.

  “Oh…hidden cameras, I don’t know,” he replied.

  She gave him a look while smelling a rose vase, “Those exist here too?”

  “Well, creeps exist everywhere—you gotta’ be careful,” Mika replied, also intrigued by the roses.

  Deep red roses, not exactly the usual red color—it was a bit closer to blood red.

  Zeifar laughed at his remark, “What sort of cameras are even used for the Rounds?”

  “I’m not quite sure, the set-up department might know.”

  “There’s a separate department for that?”

  He laughed, “It’s an office system—there’s a department for everything.”

  “Even for food?” she wondered.

  “Oh yeah, Galactix Foods and Co. They supply food everywhere.”

  She made the face of someone who had just heard the most ridiculous thing in her life, “Is monetizing everything that one thing all humans have in common?”

  “…you just noticed?” he raised his eyebrows.

  She shook her head, “But I’m surprised you fixed the issue about the complaints.”

  “You mean the issue with complaints from Andrew?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded.

  Mika froze, “…mademoiselle, do you really understand how money works?”

  “I mean…I have an MBA…” she blinked, “But I guess I don’t run a company, unlike my sister.”

  “Didn’t you get made into the CEO of something owned by your family?” he asked, stirring coffee into a mug. She gave him an awkward smile,

  “It’s not…a company, exactly.”

  He stopped stirring and stood in front of her, who was avoiding eye contact and suddenly interested in the ceiling.

  “Then what in the name of Celestia is it?” he asked.

  “Ehh…it’s the…what is it?” Zeifar sighed, “Business?” she looked at him hoping he’d accept that as an answer. The expression on his face was a clear sign he did not.

  “Um, it’s...similar to the guys who really like me.”

  The previously suspicious green eyes now looked extremely shocked. His complexion somehow paled more than his silver hair,

  “Y-you—”

  She waved a hand, “Not a big deal, don’t mind.”

  Mika took a sip from the ready-mix coffee, then made a disgusted face, “This tastes like grass.”

  Zeifar sighed, taking the cup from his hand and mixing sugar into it, “Of course it do…wait a minute,” she turned to the guy now sprawled over the bed, “Why do you even know what grass tastes like??”

  “…France in #8321 was not in the best state,” he answered, trying to sound normal about it, but Zeifar only gave him a stare, a little concerned,

  “But…grass?”

  “I mean,” he made a face, “It wasn’t that bad…I guess,” he himself was not so sure if it wasn’t that bad—he could hardly recall things from then, at least, that’s what he believed.

  “I really wish we could’ve met before all this,” she said.

  He looked up at her, confused, “You do?”

  “You could’ve tried so much better food…then at…” she continued grumbling about sushi and beef and crab pasta and what not, about some random shop near her house, all while Mika stared at her—a little confused and more amazed.

  “You’re weird as hell,” ‘OH WAIT MIKA YOU—’ his eyes widened, “No wait—that’s not what—”

  “I know, I know,” she laughed, giving him the fixed coffee, “I’m the "weirdest" person, ever.” She sounded extremely proud about it. But the humor faded out a little from her eyes as she plopped down next to him,

  “I wonder what’ll happen tomorrow.”

  He took a sip of now-heavenly coffee, “I don't know either, Traditionals are out of my hands.”

  “Expected that, but I still can’t understand what’s going on to be honest.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know…it doesn’t make sense, that’s all.”

  Mika knew what she meant, though he couldn’t really say anything either.

  “Let’s just…see what happens tomorrow,” he yawned.

  “Hmm.”

  ****

  [“Dear Contestants!”] the masked lady, who was clearly Mika’s senior, cheered. There was power around her, the glowing magenta eyes glinted with uncanny humor,

  [“Welcome to Exaros! This is known as a, what was it? Celestial Graveyard!”] she laughed.

  [You have entered Dungeon-World: Exaros (Earth#325)]

  “A three-digit world, must be old,” Zeifar commented.

  The lady winked at her,

  [“It indeed is! Now, to the Round,”] she clapped her hands as screens appeared in front of each of them.

  [“It is quite similar to how most Dungeons work: clear out monsters. The difference is, you must find the man in that palace,”] she pointed at a white castle visible from far away, a Victorian-style,

  [“A man named Evander. Find him, figure out the hidden terms and accomplish them. The first to do so advances, if there’s more than one contributor, they both advance,”] she explained, then her eyes darkened from the mask as she grinned,

  [“There is no way to leave Exaros except for clearing it.”]

  Zeifar smirked, “Right. Celestial Graveyard,” she mumbled. Quite a pretty name for a place that felt like death.

  [“Well then, Good luck! If you need me, just desperately scream ‘Mariahn’ And I’ll be there!”] she disappeared in the usual glitch.

  So her name was Mariahn.

  Zeifar noticed that the format had changed a bit,

  [Round: Traditional#01

  World: #9739 [Celestial Rank]

  Terms: Clear the ‘Palace of Exaros’

  Time-limit: None

  Penalties: None

  *It is not possible to leave if Terms are not met.]

  “A nice way of saying we’ll die trapped here if we can’t escape,” Cyrus grumbled, visibly sleepy. Zeifar gave him a pat on the head and took in her surroundings.

  She’d never fully observed the Dungeons she cleared, previously, she would just enter, kill every monster in sight, and leave.

  Taking in a deep breath of the oddly clean breeze, she noted that the sky indeed was practically the same in every Noviar-affected world. A starry abyss, yet Exaros had a brighter sky than most, a pink-yellow blend and a crescent moon at least 3x larger than the one she knew.

  The oddness of this world was proof no one exactly inhabited it. Not anymore, but maybe at some point people had.

  All 100 of them stood in the middle of grassy plains with one end leading to nothing and the other to what seemed to be the city or Capital.

  “Let’s go,” Zeifar beckoned Cyrus.

  Kazerin made a face.

  “You wanna’ go with them?” Zeifar asked, glancing at the Russian group.

  It was normal, to want to spend time with people from your own home-country.

  Kazerin shrugged, “I mean…it’s fine if I go with you, too. I was just curious about them.”

  “You know you can go, if you want. As long as you live,” Zeifar laughed.

  The other sighed, “Okay then. I’ll be around.”

  Zeifar nodded and began walking before anyone would start talking to her—she specifically wanted to avoid Jane.

  “Mas—mom—no, wait, uh, Zeifar!” Cyrus stammered excitedly, “What’ll we do?” he asked, eyes sparkly. She raised an eyebrow, noticing the boy had kept his promise. Zeifar rarely turned off Observatory Infinity, nor any of its sub-Skills, and,

  [Cyrus Rayne: Skills: 20+

  Stats: Speed: Lvl.85

  Strength: Lvl.70

  Mana: Lvl.90

  Energy: 45%]

  Her eyes landed on ‘Energy’. Unlike ‘Mana’, which was trainable and the battery for Skills, Energy was the actual battery—and its level changed often. Basically, the body’s battery.

  “…you payed no attention to your Energy,” she said, strictly.

  They boy’s eyes flinched, he grinned nervously, “Sorry??”

  “Your speed and strength won’t work if you’re lower than 20%, you know.”

  He jumped in surprise, “Wait what?”

  “Skills and abilities above level.50 don’t work for long amounts of time when you have low Energy,” she elaborated, a vial glitching into her hand, “here,” she handed it to him as they continued walking.

  “It’s a Tier-2 Energy booster…isn’t this expensive?” Cyrus asked after drinking it.

  “The Rayne family’s heir is asking me about something’s price?” she laughed, to which he became flustered. To her, he was a complete kid, not even in college yet, around 16. She sighed to herself, wondering what sort of reality it was where actual children were risking their own lives?

  “Wait,” she stopped him, just as they reached the city gates—the city was separated from the plains by dark, looming walls which looked eager to seize the sky.

  “There’s likely going to be monsters the moment we walk through,” her eyes were sharp, fiery with focus, “It’s probably a barrier, we just can’t see it.”

  Indeed, though the Gate was open, resembling welcome arms—there was a barrier shielding the plains from whatever chaos was beyond it, it was a veil. A veil which made the view from outside the Gate just as charming as the inside was horrific.

  The crystal-like white palace glowed grand and benevolently, in a glorious way.

  Zeifar doubted a palace in a destroyed world would look like that—and its view looked fake to her, like it was a paper cover.

  “So what’re you—HOLY SHI--!” Cyrus jumped behind her, squeezing onto her arm, as a car glitched to existence right where he’d been standing.

  ‘Beep beep’ --its doors slid into the air like wings. Zeifar got into the driving seat as Cyrus shakily sat on the passenger.

  “How did you even…?” he asked, looking inside the car, as the engine roared to life.

  “It belongs to a friend of mine,” she grinned, “He bought a new one, so this one’s mine now.”

  At least she’d gotten something useful for the promotion she’d gotten him, huh?

  ****

  Mika stared at the screen, sitting in his new office. Assistant to Mariahn, and he was stuck in the Lobby-building. But at least he knew how Zeifar was doing.

  “She’s insane,” he mumbled, half working half watching.

  He stopped typing on his computer and noticed something,

  “They’re in #325?” that wasn’t supposed to be the 1st Round. He double-checked, just to be sure,

  “What the…”

  Someone walked into his office without knocking,

  {“Oh, you’re here.”}

  Mika gave Damian an annoyed look and replied, “Why the hell are they in #325?”

  Damian sat down on a chair in front of Mika, {“You’re a Conductor, I thought you’d know.”}

  “I wasn’t informed,” he said, his patience lessening, “Did your sister do this?”

  The Stellar smirked, {“You really are smart, huh?”} he asked, folding his arms.

  “I could be,” he snapped, “But I doubt I need to be a genius to know what’s going on.”

  {“Then enlighten me, what’s going on?”}

  Mika rolled his eyes. The guy was testing him, and it made him feel murderous,

  “Why is Novaraxia after Zeifar? Is it this Anomaly bullshit?”

  {“It is, but how did you know she was after Zeifar?”} Damian asked, his orange eyes prying in for answers.

  “She came to me, asking questions.”

  {“And what’d you tell her?”}

  “That I can’t be bothered to know so much about some random contestant,” Mika clasped his hands together, leaning over the table, “Now what do you want?”

  Damian made a face, {“Rather straightforward. I thought I’d at least get some coffee or tea,”} he shook his head,

  {“I need to use you, obviously.”}

  ****

  “WOAHHHH—AGHH—MOTHER DEAR GOD--!!!!” Cyrus screamed, clutching onto his seatbelt for dear life, as Zeifar hit one monster after the other and swerved the car, going at god-knows-what-kmph.

  The car finally screeched to a stop, right in front of the palace gates.

  “I guess driving it into the palace is a bad idea…but to walk all the way,” Zeifar sized up the palace, then looked at Cyrus, “Can you?”

  He nodded, glad to be out of the car.

  “Okay then.”

  The car disappeared, “The top floor. Walk.”

  Cyrus followed behind her, who was walking quite fast though her hands were resting in her jacket pockets and the look on her face was simply tired.

  “Why haven’t any monsters attacked us yet? I thought this place had high-tier monsters?” he asked, frantically looking around. The interior was interesting to him. Zeifar only shrugged, “Dunno’.”

  It was a lie, obviously.

  The reason nothing had attacked them was the palace itself. This Evander who lived in the palace, whoever he was, had cast some sort of barrier making it impossible to cross for monsters, [‘The Fae’s Shield’] as the System named it.

  ‘He’s a Fae-Category,’ Zeifar thought to herself, ‘Interesting.’

  Climbing up the main stairs, Zeifar’s eyes couldn’t help but be amazed by the palace itself. She wondered how it would’ve looked in its former glory.

  White marble pillars covered by vines, yet still quite magnificent. The gold decorations, red carpeting and crystal chandeliers had been all overtaken by vines bearing icy-mint leaves.

  ‘Creak!’

  Zeifar looked up to see Cyrus pushing open an old, rusted metal door.

  “Gosh, calm down,” she laughed, watching him struggle, “Move a bit,” she sighed, and kicked it in. The door flew open, making an annoyingly loud ‘clang’ noise.

  Cyrus stared at the door as they walked through the doorway, “How did you even…”

  “Technique, kiddo, technique,” she chuckled, “Maybe I’ll teach you one day.”

  The view after the doorway had barely any light, only a narrow staircase leading up.

  “Shut the door,” Zeifar told, which Cyrus immediately followed, “And be careful with the vines, they’re all over the stairs.”

  “It’s okay, I can just,” he disappeared in a blur of pink and white and reappeared at the top of the first flight of stairs, his two-colored eyes bright. He was on adrenaline.

  Zeifar sighed, “Maybe I shouldn’t have decided to help you,” and began climbing the stairs. Cyrus frowned, “Don’t you have any cool Skills like that?”

  She stopped and blinked.

  ‘If I use anything too flashy, the Stellars will get suspicious,’ she reminded herself,

  ‘…they’re suspicious anyways.’

  [Initiating ‘Mirror Void’]

  [Mirroring current speed to sub-Skill ‘Nine Eyes’]

  ****

  Cyrus held onto the railing of the top floor, breathing heavily, “You—you’re more like a race-car than a racer,” he panted, the world dancing in his vision.

  Zeifar smiled, shaking her head, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  She looked around the dark room, a faint glimmer of light glowed in through a dusty, jammed window.

  This room, just like everything else, was covered in plants. From the little bit of light, they could see one side of the wall lined with portraits of people neither knew.

  Zeifar heard the noise of footsteps. She looked up. There was a second floor reached by a small ladder, an indoor balcony full of books. A middle-aged man with a military haircut stared at the in confusion.

  “Uh, hello sir?” Zeifar waved at him.

  The lights instantly blinked on and the man appeared in front of them, squinting.

  “Are you—”

  “Yes, I’m Evander…but,” he continued to stare at her, “What are you doing here again?”

  “…what?” Zeifar blinked.

  Sir Evander looked even more confused.

  “I swear I’ve seen you before,” he muttered.

  Cyrus and Zeifar shared a look.

  [Stellars are intrigued by this.]

  [Many Stellars are confused.]

  [Stellar: ‘Guardian of Graves’ is very confused but he says he supports. +3000 Sterlings.]

  [Stellar: ‘Lover of Beauty’ wishes for you to stop acting arrogant. +4000 Sterlings.]

  [Stellar: ‘Master of Darkness’ advices to stay cautious. +6000 Sterlings.]

  ‘Holy crap Persephone is loaded,’ she thought to herself and went back to the point—the Underworld was telling her to focus. To not get distracted by money.

  ‘I’ve got more than them, though,’ she sighed in her thoughts, ‘But whatever.’

  “Sir, we were only instructed to find you,” she told. She’d been sending something as rather off already.

  He raised his eyebrows, “Just that? Only to find me?”

  Cyrus nodded, to which the man asked, “So that means…Celestial ranked?” The two nodded.

  “I see…” he seemed to get lost in thought.

  “Then I believe you were told to find the hidden terms?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I shall leave it to you. You may call for me if you need so…and the terms, you will find in this palace,” he said, staring at the painted ceiling.

  Zeifar made a face, “We’ll find the terms here? Does that mean we need to stay here too?”

  Sir Evander only shrugged, “You can, if you want. But I won’t be of any help, I only look after the Palace. Though,” he paused, “Be careful at nighttime. It is rather risky in the dark.”

  “…I understand. Thank you.”

  Zeifar was only annoyed. The man was clearly lying—yet she couldn’t do anything about it.

  Some people would think it was an issue with the translation device, but she knew that it wasn’t the case. The translating device could not change the words.

  She turned to Cyrus, “Do you want to stay here?”

  He looked around, “Depends. But for now, sure. The sun hasn’t set yet.”

  “Then should we look around?” she asked Sir Evander, who replied,

  “It’s all if you wish.”

  ****

  “What could it possibly be?” Cyrus wondered as they sat in the library of the palace.

  People had already started to arrive, though most were not quite interested in the library.

  “It’s cliché, the answer is not there,” as Jane Reilov had said to him.

  Zeifar, his mentor (or something like that), had disappeared into some corner of the library as she would ‘rather die than interact with Jane’ (as she had said).

  Cyrus sat at a table with the boy who had been running around Jane earlier, Maiv.

  He noticed how Maiv was actually completely different from Jane, and really calm, maybe even a bit introverted.

  “So…are we the same age?” Cyrus awkwardly asked. Maiv’s calm eyes looked up at him, making him jump. The boy blinked his icy gray eyes, “I suppose so,” he answered in a thick accent and returned to reading.

  He was so abrupt that it was nearly impossible to make small-talk.

  Frustrated, he scanned the library for Zeifar.

  The library was 3-storeys big, each wall and corner covered in books, except for on part which had a floor-to-ceiling windows. It was unreasonably big, in Cyrus’ opinion. Who needed such a big library?

  He noticed someone’s black hair move from the 3rd floor of the library.

  Zeifar was sitting among many scattered books, she’d climbed onto the windowsill and was rummaging through books—scanning each faster than a computer.

  Yet she couldn’t find what she was looking for.

  Unlike everyone who had decided that hiding clues in library was cliché and unlikely—she had a feeling that whatever the terms were, they were definitely in the library.

  The Rounds and every aspect of the Noviar Laws were made in stereotypical video-game tropes so people could understand the rules better.

  “But what am I even looking for?”

  [{“You’re supposed to look for ways to earn a Title,”}] an annoyingly familiar voice rang in her head.

  [“What the fu…Damian???”]

  [{“Helloooo,”}] his voice said merrily.

  “…” the girl’s eyes glared directly into one of the cameras, which she couldn’t see, only sense.

  [“I’m sorry he tried to kill me, mademoiselle, I’m really sorry—”]

  She had no idea how Damian had managed to get Mika to risk his job, but she didn’t complain as long as it helped her out.

  [“So, a Title?”] she asked.

  [{“Yeah. You can figure it out right?”}]

  [“Yeah.”]

  ****

  ‘System, could you elaborate on how earning a Title works?’

  [Of course, Master:

  As you already know, a Title also adds Skills to your abilities—it seems that the way it is in Exaros it that there are various Titles which can be earned, the most powerful and useful Title is given to the First to earn one, and so on.]

  ‘Ah, so another hierarchy. You can’t tell me what the title is or how to earn it, can you?’ she knew what it would say.

  [Unfortunately, no.]

  “That’s alright,” Zeifar muttered. At least she’d gotten somewhere to start, right?

  ****

  “Sir Evander,” the young girl returned to the top floor.

  He stared at her. She really did look so familiar…but he wasn’t sure.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  “Does this Hidden Terms thing have anything to do with Exaros’ History?” Zeifar asked.

  Sir Evander smiled serenely, “I’m not certain. The answer will reach you eventually.”

  The girl smiled through gritted teeth and walked away, muttering curses in a foreign language he did not know.

  He realized that she was, in fact, not who he thought her to be—there was a fiery rage, a burning ambition in her eyes that he did not recognize.

  No, this was a completely different person.

  “What were the odds?” he wondered to himself as the girl walked away.

  ****

  History.

  Zeifar read through every history book in the damn library, lucky for the ‘Observatory Infinity’ it wasn’t tough, but it was still time-consuming.

  She had been in the library for much longer than a day when she’d finally begun to piece it all together.

  “Well?” Cyrus asked, startling her. She looked at him. “What?”

  “Did you figure anything out, miss?” the one who asked was Maiv.

  “Ah, still doing that,” she responded, going back to reading, “…wait a minute, when did—”

  “Can we go look around?” Cyrus asked like a child asking a parent for ice-cream.

  “Sure, then. Don’t get hurt…don’t you have any guardian?” she asked, looking at Maiv. She couldn’t just have children running around. “Well, aunt Jane is busy…she’s my only family, so, well,” he replied, stammering. “Oh, then it’s fine,” she nodded, realizing how uncomfortable of a topic that must be for him, “Make sure he doesn’t get hurt,” she instructed Cyrus, who nodded enthusiastically and ran off.

  She continued to read, ignoring the Stellars’ messages.

  From what she’d read, Exaros’ greatest during its Rounds were the Imperial family and Army—who kept it intact for as long as possible. It was quite obvious that no matter the efforts, Exaros had always been set for destruction.

  And, she wasn’t sure if this was some sort of joke or what, the one person every book mentioned was Emperor ‘Damian’. Even in books about the most random things, including fictional stories, he was depicted as a highly revered man, or in some cases a boy, it wasn’t specific. A demon of a person, but a great Emperor. It didn’t exactly match the Damian she knew, so she hoped it was someone else. Names are common, after all.

  ‘The most powerful in the history of Exaros’, no, definitely did not match with her twin.

  Zeifar got up from the windowsill and felt her joints crackle like fireworks. Even in the apocalypse, her terribly-functioning bones still prevailed.

  “How long have I been here exactly?” she asked, to no one really—Mika had said that communicating was risky—but the System still answered,

  [Approximately 32:00 Hours.]

  “Huh, am I really that dedicated?” she wondered, climbing a ladder to reach the top shelves, coated in thick dust.

  “Magazines, magazines…AHAH!” she found a set of magazines from that specific timeline.

  Taking them out and falling into a couch, she sighed, “Magazines are now more useful than history books, huh?”

  ****

  Zeifar had been correct.

  At first, she had begun to lose hope about finding anything. The last magazine saved her.

  ‘The Demonic Emperor of Exaros’, as he was called. There was, by rumour, something about the Imperial family of Exair. Damian Exair, the boy-Emperor himself, allegedly had the ability to travel dimensions, and people assumed that so could all of the Exairs. Some even went far as to say that the Exair family’s heirlooms contained magic.

  “Heirlooms containing magic…this little—” Zeifar cursed. It didn’t matter which Damian it was; he was a piece of shit either way.

  The ‘Term’ she was looking for was not a piece of writing nor any information.

  It was a damn object.

  “Now where in Celestia is it?” she muttered, getting up again.

  “Where is what?” Sir Evander asked.

  Her eyes darted to him, who was standing on the 1st floor of the library with a tray of tea.

  “Something I’m looking for,” Zeifar answered, jumping down the 3rd level to in front of him, “Why?”

  The man blinked, concerned by the jump, “Nothing. Here,” he handed her the tray, “Make sure to return it to the kitchen,” he said and left, leaving Zeifar standing there utterly confused.

  ****

  “So dramatic…” Zeifar chuckled, munching on biscuits and walking down the dark, vine-covered hallways.

  There was no way in hell the guy actually wanted her to return the tray, but it was a good enough hint.

  [“Be careful, mademoiselle.”]

  [“I thought you said communicating was risky?”] she teased.

  [“…just be careful.”]

  She laughed to herself and kept walking.

  A map of the giant palace was held open in her left hand as she navigated the way to the kitchen.

  The place she was looking for was either near the kitchen, if not then at least she could return the tray.

  “Who knew I could see in the dark,” she laughed through a mouthful of salted biscuit. Indeed, her ‘Observatory Infinity’ gave her some extremely useful sub-Skills.

  ‘Gee, I’m overpowered,’ she thought to herself, sighing, ‘Ew.’

  After ages of walking, Zeifar stopped before the kitchen doors. Large, rusty doors with zero signs of life.

  “How is this a kitchen?” she asked distastefully, noticing that none of the contestants were in this part of the palace.

  ‘I suppose the kitchen’s not so important to them. A pity.’

  ****

  “I’ve seen so many things, but a secret door inside a kitchen? Seriously?” Zeifar grumbled.

  [Many Stellars are extremely amused by your words. +16000 Sterlings.]

  She tried to open the little wooden door, the only thing she had found in the palace which shone like it was new. A freshly polished door in a place where everything else was rusted, could it be any more obvious?

  “This could very much be a trap and I might very much be that one character who dies at the beginning of a white horror movie,” she reasoned to herself, her hand still on the doorknob, “But if it’s for the plot, why not?” she reasoned to her reasoning and walked through.

  ****

  “…flashy,” she muttered.

  A bright, though small, room. Walls of gold and a glossy floor, it was an exhibit, unreasonably fancy and an eyesore.

  “So this is the thing,” Zeifar walked to the glowing crown at the center of the little room.

  An Emperor’s crown, carved by hand, deep red stones which were foreign to her reflected an orange-ish light. The red of each stone was deep velvety, unnaturally charming.

  [Object: ‘Demonic Emperor’s Crown’]

  [!Cannot be worn without fulfilling conditions of worthiness.]

  ‘What are the conditions?’

  [Conditions: Succeed The Demonic Emperor’s story.]

  Zeifar froze.

  Succeed Damian’s Story?

  ‘Which one?’

  [The Story of Crowning]

  The story where the prince had become the Emperor.

  She knew the guy wouldn’t help her.

  So instead, she stood there recalling the stories.

  [Initiating Skill: ‘Mirror Memory’]

  The words she had read earlier flooded her vision.

  ‘Damian Exair, illegitimate child of the Exair bloodline, believed to be Demon from a different realm, who succeeded the Imperial Crown after returning from war.’

  But not specifically how he’d done it—

  A magazine rumor,

  ‘He destroyed the Imperial Throne Hall, burnt it to the ground simply because he was disrespected!’

  Oh.

  Zeifar grinned, putting the Crown in her inventory,

  “Time for arson!”

  ****

  While it may have sounded like Damian had burnt the Throne Hall out of anger, and as much as Zeifar wanted to believe he was that stupid, she knew how calculative he was. Even his comrades from then had described him as the same.

  Zeifar knew she was doing so much and such an uncertain thing, and that this was all based on her own assumptions. She refused to ask Damian for help.

  “But ignorance is bliss and uncertainty can only be won over by blind confidence,” she said, changing into a new jacket.

  [Many Stellars are amazed by your thinking.]

  She rolled her eyes and sat, back in the library.

  ‘To burn that place…’ she had visited it earlier.

  The Hall shone with power, it would not get destroyed by a simple fire.

  ‘I don’t have any fired-type skill…’ she stopped,

  “But I can copy one.”

  ****

  “You…want me to show you my skill?” Maiv asked, confused.

  “Stop questioning so much,” Cyrus insisted, “Trust me, she’s chill!”

  Maiv raised an eyebrow at the candy-boy and turned back to Zeifar, who was smiling at Cyrus in an almost guilty way.

  ‘I’m not chill, I’m using him to get ahead,’ she thought to herself and turned to Maiv.

  “You have a long-range flame Skill, don’t you?”

  He nodded, wary.

  “Can I see how it works?” but she asked so sweetly that he could not help but feel a bit flattered. Maiv wondered if she was doing this on purpose or if she really was like this.

  “Uhm, sure,” he mumbled.

  They were outside the Palace, at a place full of monsters, easy to find targets.

  The boy raised an arm, aiming somewhere in the distance. Flames ignited from the tip of his fingers all the way up his arm, surrounding it in a way that made it seem like he had an arm made of fire.

  A burning arrow flew out towards a monster far away, making it burst into a deep red inferno at the moment of contact.

  Zeifar’s eyes studied the Skill.

  [ Your understanding of Maiv’s Skills has updated.]

  [New Skill learnt: ‘Arrow of War’]

  He was a representative of Mikhailo, the War-Stellars favored him extremely.

  Zeifar felt a bit awed,

  “Thank you so much!” she smiled cheerily, running away.

  “…” Maiv nodded, watching her return to the indoors,

  “She’s rather caring.”

  Cyrus shrugged, “Sometime I feel like she can’t control it—she’s just like that, you know?”

  And so the two continued to kill monsters for practice, each occupied in his own thoughts, while Zeifar returned to the Palace, full of energy.

  [Mirroring memorized Skill: ‘Arrow of War’ (Understanding Lvl.4)]

  [Mirroring current Skill to ‘Nine Eyes’. Lvl.30]

  [All Skills have been boosted 10x temporarily]

  Zeifar bounced on her feet, cracking her knuckles.

  It was the first time she had ever felt so much energy all at once.

  “It feels nice, almost like if ADHD was a superpower,” she smiled—why? No clue, but the feeling of pure electricity made her feel like laughing out loud.

  She aimed her arm at the throne, flames surrounded the arm just as they had Maiv’s, like electricity around metal.

  Her fingers aiming directly at her target, she squinted an eye, the flames tickling her arm.

  “Pew!” she shot a finger gun. A very, very violent finger gun.

  ****

  As circles of fire grew into contact, the throne burst into more flames with an abnormally loud noise—a sonic clanging, as if a thousand bells had been aggressively rung all at the same time.

  Ultramarine blue light filtered over the fire, the light radiating from the object itself.

  Zeifar could not really figure out the point of all this, though,

  “Is it just for fancy visuals?” she wondered.

  At that moment, the room began shaking. She held onto a pillar to make sure she wouldn’t fall into the fire, though it most likely wouldn’t harm her as long as her conscious Skill (Mirror Void) was working.

  [All abilities of Exaros have been awakened by aggression.]

  [Contributors: Zeifar Nadir]

  ****

  {“…she’s…aggressive,”} Anubis commented.

  {“Worse than Damian,”} Bari agreed.

  Damian rolled his eyes and stared at the screen, a bit surprised himself.

  He hadn’t ever used any methods like that—all he’d done back then was take a plain lighter and gasoline. Simple ways, simple results.

  Zeifar’s Skill-set was unlike any one he’d seen; it was uncommon even for an Anomaly like him.

  {“Weird twin, but she won’t die easily at least,”} he mumbled, observing her.

  They were short on time already. If that Stellar-killer didn’t explain to her by the end of this Round…

  {‘Damn it, why is this taking so long?!’}

  ****

  5 different things to do, one entire Centre to manage, and on top of that Mika had to find the time to tell his business-partner that there was a psychopath trying to kill her.

  He stared at the screen blankly, watching Zeifar wreak havoc and commit arson, feeling annoyed.

  If you thought about it, Damian getting killed was unlikely now. If he had to die, he would’ve died all those years ago when he’d apparently been a murder-attempt victim. He was a Stellar now, he wouldn’t get killed. Zeifar was still a contestant—meaning her death wouldn’t affect anything whatsoever.

  Unfair.

  “I hate this, I’m gonna’ quit my job,” he sobbed into his hands, “Which asshole gave me the idea to become a Conductor?!”

  It was him, actually. It had been his own idea.

  And he hated it (rather like every person with a job).

  “Why did you have to be an Anomaly,” he mumbled, trying to find any previous cases of murdered contestants for being Anomalies…he found none.

  The woman at the lead of this all was thorough, if anything.

  She didn’t leave any traces. None at all.

  ****