The other Player moved with sudden, explosive burst of speed, catching Ishiki off guard. Within a second, Jake was right in front of Ishiki.

'Damn it!'

Ishiki summoned [Curved Bone] with frantic mental command—reaching for the pale blade that had become extension of his survival instinct.

But nothing happened.

The bone-white sword didn't materialize in his hand as it always had, his hand was... empty.

'No... NO...'

His mind failed to create a coherent thought and went blank all of a sudden. His heart meanwhile, was not so calm, it was beating so fast that Ishiki felt a strong urge to puke.

In the next moment, a sharp pain ignited in his neck.

One of Jake's daggers had penetrated flesh, the cold blade sliding between vertebrae and severing crucial veins of his body.

He clawed at the other Player's face with desperate, animal ferocity. His fingers curled into talons. His nails dug deep into skin, tearing flesh apart from underlying structure until he felt what little strength remained draining from his legs.

He knees hit the wooden floor with a wet thud. He didn't consciously feel the second dagger seeping deeper into his side, it punctured between his ribs and finding organs, creating fatal damage.

It was... calm.

His mind had stopped its frantic scrambling. His blue eyes were wide and burned with maddening flame that grew progressively dimmer with each passing second.

His heart, however, achieved the calmest state of all.

It had... stopped beating.

Complete cessation. The eternal rhythm that had sustained him from conception to this moment finally... ended.

He felt his body grow cold. He felt, as warmth fled from his innards, retreating toward core that could no longer maintain it.

He felt his vision escaping.

The only thing he could see with crystal clarity was the mad grin plastered across Jake's face—expression of triumphant insanity that would be his final image.

'I... I... will... kill... you.'

With the last fragment of will—with final spark of consciousness before eternal darkness claimed him completely.

Ishiki gritted teeth and screamed with voice that was lost.

"I will kill you a hundred times, bastard!"

His eyes swung open violently as he released hoarse, desperate breath.

He sat up with abrupt, jerking motion—gasping for air as if he was drowning.

Beads of sweat rolled down his temple in rivulets, soaking his hair and making his skin clammy despite the cold atmosphere. His heart was beating at unusually accelerated pace.

After a stretched moment of silence—while reality reassembled itself around him.

Ishiki covered his face with trembling hands.

And chuckled.

'That... was one hell of a nightmare.'

He was perilously close to crying. Weird emotions building pressure behind eyes and throat tightening with suppressed reaction.

But he didn't allow the release.

He took several shuddering breaths, deliberately steadying respiration. Then shook his head in an attempt to dislodge the lingering horror in his memories.

Then, he pushed himself up from the bed with stiff movements.

His body was weird because of experiencing death in a nightmare.

'Last Crimson Night was... strange. Or maybe the strangest one so far.'

Ishiki walked out of his room and opened the door, the cold night breeze suddenly hit him and sent shivers cascading down his spine.

The world outside was drowned in darkness illuminated only by cool, familiar silver luminance of the moon shining upon the realm below with ethereal radiance.

The storm from previous night had completely subsided—leaving nothing except wet soil behind as evidence of its passage.

Ishiki was, all in all satisfied that he had not forgotten about his duty, because who knew when will the next rain fall in this desolate land.

Suddenly, Ishiki heard footsteps approaching from the direction of the temple. They were cautious but maintained hurried pace. Someone trying simultaneously not to slip on wet ground while moving with urgency.

'Huh? But who's coming here?'

Could be anyone, really. Maybe the Player who shared the house with him.

He frowned abruptly. 'Sharing house with me?'

Ishiki laughed at the absurd thought. He had been thinking weird things lately.

He used to live alone in this certain house within the settlement, since he was the only one who wasn't with the players brought by the princess and those who managed to make it until here on their own.

Ishiki was here to begin with, so he had the privilege of solitary habitation.

"Big brother, Ishiki!"

Nina's voice pulled him out of his weird thoughts.

She looked at him with cheeks puffed up in exaggerated annoyance, then spoke in tone attempting anger but it felt like worried frustration.

"What are you doing? You're awake and you didn't come to the meeting!"

Then suddenly, her expression transformed.

She became silent. Her face wore a dark and sad expression. A single droplet fell from her eyes, tracing wet path down her cheek.

Ishiki blinked a few times in confusion.

Nina was... crying.

the tears felt weird coming from someone who was typically among the most nonchalant individuals in the entire settlement. Someone who was stoic in face of horrors that had broken stronger personalities.

'What could have made someone like her cry?'

"H... Hey, Nina... why are you crying? What happened?"

Ishiki spoke, feeling awkward.

Then, out of nowhere the young girl hugged him tightly and bellowed—sobbing against his chest.

Ishiki's face grew somber. He wanted to smile reassuringly and say comforting words that would alleviate whatever distress had reduced her to this state.

But he couldn't.

The words wouldn't come. The smile wouldn't form.

He simply placed his hand on her head, and asked in slow, measured voice.

"What... what happened?"

Nina sobbed once and then backed away, wiping her tears away.

"I... I am just happy to see you alive. Don't get any weird ideas."

Ishiki's eyes narrowed. "Tell me what happened."

Then started speaking with voice barely above whisper:

"Two... two people are missing."

She looked down at ground as if unable to maintain eye contact while delivering terrible news and continued in a somber tone.

"At first... when everyone gathered for the meeting, there were only 28 people. But there were supposed to be 31."

She paused and then looked at him. "You... were missing too, so I just ran here, thinking that you finally kicked the bucket."

'Huh? Kicked the bucket? This brat...'

Ishiki wanted to say a lot of things. Actually a lot of... never mind. Feeling the graveness of the situation he sighed instead.

"Don't worry, I won't die that easily."

He lingered for a moment and then asked a question that felt hollow. "Who else is missing? Did you check their names and houses?"

The young girl looked at him and shivered. Fear clearly visible in her eyes. Then she whispered, in an almost inaudible voice.

"We... we don't know who is missing?"

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