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n’250 people he brought here. And now, only 10 remain. 240 dead, in less than 2 weeks,’ Ning was finally starting to feel horrible about this.

nThe worst part was that Genesis wasn’t doing it to give one of the winners a system so they could live freely. He was doing it so he could see how his little system did in the real world.

nHe wanted a lab rat, and he was willing to kill 249 people, and 1 soul to get it.

nNing couldn’t help but wonder if there was any way for him to stop Genesis from getting too far with all of this.

nBut if even his System was too scared to do anything against him, Ning didn’t know what he could do.

nSo, he had to keep on doing what he had been doing until now.

nShut up and go with the flow.

n”Look at you all, fighting such a tough battle and winning. I never expected for you to make me create such strong creatures.”

n”As a reward for all of this, once your little break is over, I will tell you exactly how my system will work,” Genesis said.

n”Until then, have fun.”

nBefore anyone could speak up, Genesis disappeared. Not long after, they all disappeared as well.

nNing appeared on the street of one of the many cities all over this planet. He tried to use his Aether, but as expected, it was all gone.

nThe other four teammates of his appeared next to him as well.

n”So we are all still together, huh?” Issi asked as he looked around. The folks with the question marks over their head still walked around.

n”We’re all in this together, little worm,” Derel said and started looking for an exit out of the city.

nDrake slowly shifted away from Nova and tried to distance himself.

n”Our powers don’t work here again,” Ning said so he wouldn’t be so afraid of her.

nStill, Drake didn’t listen to him and moved to the wall before uncontrollably slumping on it and sliding down.

nThe cloak covered his face from the sky, but the hot sunlight still hurt him to stay under.

n”Oh right,” Ning said. “Let’s get you inside.”𝗈𝒱𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

nNing carried Drake into a normal house next to them and laid him on the bed.

n”Thank you, leader,” Drake said after taking a deep breath. After coming indoors, his body was able to move a little more and he could stand up.

n”I don’t think I’m a leader anymore. The competition is over and there’s nothing to protect after all.

n”Well, I will still call you a leader,” Drake said.

n”Such an embarrassing act from someone named Drake. You should have some pride and fight against the pain,” Derel said.

n”My parents didn’t name me Drake. It’s more of a nickname they used to call me with, and I adopted it as what I want everyone to call me,” Drake said.

n”So your real name isn’t Drake?” Derel asked.

n”No, its—”

n”So you are just another little worm,” Derel said with a sneer. “Tsk, and here I thought I met someone worth of me remembering their name.”

n”Whatever,” Drake said and laid back on the bed.

n”So… what do we do now?” Issi asked when all of them were silent.

n”I don’t know,” Ning said.

n”Will we have to fight each other now?” Issi asked something that had been bothering him for a while now. It was something everyone else had on their mind as well.

n”Hopefully not,” Ning said. “Genesis might come up with a different type of competition for the rest of us.”

n”What type is that?” Derel asked.

n”I don’t know,” Ning said. “Let’s not bother with that at the moment.”

n”Sigh, fine,” Derel said. “I’m going out. I need mana to fix my circuits.”

nAs everyone watched, Derel walked out of the door and left.

n”I’ll go train as well,” Issi said. “I don’t like the fact that I had to sit out of the last 3 fights.”

nHe too left the room, leaving the 3 behind.

nNing thought for a moment. He too needed to go collect some Aether. His reserves had been quite low after the last fight.

n”I should probably go get ready for the next competition too,” Ning said. “I’m assuming you won’t leave now either?”

nDrake shook his head. Just like last time, he wanted to stay back in the city.

n’Well, since his only source of power are other people, it’s not surprising he wouldn’t want to leave,’ Ning thought.

n”You will be staying too right, Nova?” Ning asked and turned towards NOva. Only then did he notice that she was huddled up on the floor behind Drake’s bed.

nSeeing Ning’s eyes, Drake too stood to check on her.

nNing walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Nova?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

nNova jolted out of her trance and looked around in fear. Her breathing got quick and Ning could clearly see the effects of her trauma on her face.

n”What’s wrong?” he asked. ‘Did her trauma from the first round come back? Or did she see the people die in the 2nd round?’

nHe was sure that as far as she knew, nobody died because of her in the 2nd round.

n”They died because of me,” She suddenly said as tears rolled down her face. “I killed them. I killed them.”

nShe started shivering like she had felt the coldest of chills ever.

n”What are you talking about, Nova? You killed nobody,” Ning said.

n”No, I killed them. They were just protecting themselves, and… and… I killed them. I didn’t want to kill them, but I had to… oh god!” she cried.

nNing was stunned. “You had to?” he asked, but Nova didn’t answer at all.

nHe grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Nova, who did you kill?” he asked.

nNova looked at him with fearful eyes. “I killed them,” she said. “Those people from group 3.”

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