The school went quiet. But explosions still roared across the city. Screams didn't stop.
The consequences of the tragedy hit me hard. A smell struck my nose. Sweet, heavy, sickly smell of fresh meat. Still hot, with steam rising from guts.
Only now did I realize the full picture. I vomited.
I tried to step aside and stepped on someone's intestine. A body lay on the steps. Or what was left of it. The torso was torn in two. Only intestines connected the parts, stretched across the steps. Like someone tried to crawl, leaving a greasy trail of guts behind.
I turned away. Took a step. And nearly stepped on a head. The face was crushed. One eye was pushed out, hanging on a vein. The jaw was twisted, the skin of the face and lips torn in two. Blood mixed with strange clear slime still dripped from the inside of the face.
Next to it lay a bare, bloody arm bone. Just a bone. The skin, with torn veins sticking out, was tossed aside. The skin had been ripped off the bone.
Near the gym walls was a pile of lifeless bodies, stacked on each other. Or rather, what was left of them. The faces on severed heads were frozen in panicked screams.
I vomited again. My mind couldn't take it. Something burned inside me. I fell to my knees and tried to tear the skin off my face. I hit my head, screamed, and pounded my fists on the asphalt until they bled.
I couldn't hold it in, even though I knew I shouldn't make noise.
A scream tore out of me.
— AAAAAAAA!
— WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?
— WHY?
Tears streamed from my eyes.
A group of monsters rushed toward the noise.
— COME HERE, YOU BASTARDS!
— I'LL CUT YOU ALL DOWN!
I swung wide and sliced one of them with all my strength. Then another. And another. And another. Hatred filled me.
— COME HERE! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!
— DIE!
In just a couple of minutes, my strength started to fade. My voice grew hoarse.
One was left. No others in sight. I swung, but the sword flew out of my hand. My strength was gone. Just minutes ago, I didn't know what to do with it all.
The monster leaped and knocked me to the ground. It tore open my chest with its claws. One bite, and my arm was gone again. It shredded my legs with its talons.
— AAAAAAAA!
All I could do was scream in pain. My sword lay a few meters away. I couldn't reach for it, or it would tear off my other arm. I hid my second hand under me. But what now?
I lay there, staring at the sword. The monster kept ripping into my guts.
And then… the sword rose and floated in the air. A thought flashed. What if…? I tried to guide the sword with my mind. And it… worked!
The sword slashed through the monster's body in a second, splitting it in two.
I reached out and called it to me with my mind. It flew and landed in my hand. But what was the point if I was going to die anyway? Was there really no way to survive?
At that moment, the sword began to glow again. The same glow as when it was stabbed into my head. The lower half of the blade turned fiery, while the upper half stayed dark, like it swallowed the light.
But even more: my body's tissues started to regenerate. They didn't grow back. They grew anew, like some kind of reptile. The pain faded over time.
So, I could control the sword with my mind. And it could help me regenerate. Who was that man who gave it to me? It wasn't hard to guess he stabbed it into my head to connect me to it. A few hours ago, that would've sounded absurd, but now, it made sense.
...
*Female voice*
[New level!]
[Say out loud or in your mind: "Open status" to view your progress!]
What? That voice in my head again? At this point, it was hard to surprise me.
— Open status.
[Status]
Name: Kairen Ashval
Age: 18
Level: 2
Health: 20
Mana: 20/20
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Overall Condition: 14/20
Skill: None
Bonus: None
Rank: None
A menu with… stats appeared right before my eyes? The first question was how this system knew my name and age. But its very existence was just as shocking. I'd only seen this in games before.
*Female voice*
[Note: If you say "open status" out loud, the menu will appear as a physical visualization, and other creatures can see it. If you think "open status" in your mind, only you will see the menu.]
— I can't get used to this voice.
[Note: Say out loud or in your mind "close status" to close the stats menu.]
— Close status.
If you think about it, this is a full-on leveling system. I could get stronger. Logically, that meant killing monsters.
— Heh, it's like I'm in an MMORPG.
Now it was time to face what I'd been avoiding all along.
Were the people I cared about still alive?
I stood up but didn't dare move. I just stood, staring at one spot, afraid to see the faces of my friends… and one girl among the corpses.
I never thought I'd feel a bit relieved that I didn't have parents.
I gathered my courage and took a step. I saw many familiar faces. But not the ones that truly mattered to me. Just people I'd seen at school. Each step was heavy. Each face made my heart pound harder, knowing I could stumble across the one I was looking for any moment.
Three bodies lay by the wall. One had its guts spilling out. The face was torn but recognizable. Another sat against the wall. But it wasn't whole. Its head lay a few meters away. The third was face-down. Its stomach was pierced through. I didn't look at its face. The blue bracelet in its hand and the two other bodies nearby made it clear—these were my closest friends.
I couldn't hold back. Tears streamed down my face. I knew I had to stay calm in a moment like this. But I wasn't ready. I still wanted to believe it was just a nightmare. But reality was cruel.
I didn't know what was happening beyond the school. What was happening in the world? What was that voice in my head? What were these Death Games? I had to pull myself together and find out. Besides, now I had the strength to stand up for myself.
...
But not everyone was as lucky as me. Maybe I was the only one who got lucky. How many survived?
And why couldn't I cry? I'm just a human, after all. It'd feel better if I just cried. It'd help me move forward. People have that ability for a reason. It's needed, and there's no weakness in it… or maybe I'm just trying to justify my weakness?
I stood up and walked to the other building where it all began. It started on the third floor of that building. That's where the girl I'd give my life for studied. I climbed over corpses. Looked at every face. Every severed head. Every dead body. The higher I went, the more corpses there were. Many didn't even make it out.
— IS ANYONE ALIVE?
— ANSWER ME!
I checked every corpse. Searched the entire courtyard. Rummaged through every room on the first two floors. But I didn't find her.
So… that left the third floor. I stood at the start of the corridor for a while, not daring to begin the search. But I had to start.
...
And there it was… that wretched body. The one I'd searched for. At my feet lay a mangled corpse. Both arms were gone. Bones showed through deep gashes in the legs. The spine was crushed. The neck was half-gnawed. The face was frozen in pain and horror.
I'd never see her again? She was gone? But… how was that possible? Why did this happen? Why did this happen to me? Why did this happen to you, Anna? What did we do to deserve this?
An endless flood of thoughts filled my mind. My heart grew heavier. Now I didn't try to hold back the tears. My world collapsed before my eyes. My entire worldview, my way of thinking, my will to live. It was all destroyed in an instant.
You're gone. My friends are gone. My father and mother are gone. You all left me and went to your rest. You left me alone in this world. I can't see you anymore. I can't hug you. I can't even… just talk to you. I don't want to live here anymore. I want to be with you. I want to escape this suffering. I, too… want to find peace.
I drew the sword and pressed it to my neck.
One swing. And I'd die. I'd be gone. I'd cease to exist. What's it like to die? Come on, Kairen. End it. Can you do it? One strike. Just do it.
...
I lowered the sword. I slapped myself across the face… and ran. I just ran. I didn't look at anyone. Didn't think about anything. I knew I didn't want to die. I knew I had to live. I knew I had to find out everything. I'd live until there were no paths left. Until this world itself kills me.