[Phase One: Initiating…]
Time Remaining: 60:00:00
Trial Activated: ROUND ONE – "The Culling Ground"
Players Remaining: 11
Objective: Survive.
It started with a flash of light.
I'd just finished texting Tempus to cover for me at school again when the world blinked white and vanished around me.
Then came the cold.
The air shifted.
The sky darkened.
And I was no longer home.
I stood in the middle of a graveyard.
But not like any cemetery I'd ever seen—this place was unreal. Endless tombstones stretched across hills that defied physics. The sky overhead was cracked like shattered glass, exposing purple lightning and distant stars.
A sick moon hovered above, blood-red and pulsing like a heartbeat.
The air tasted metallic.
I wasn't alone.
All around me, other Players materialized.
Keon.
Vix.
Orion.
Julia.
And others I didn't recognize.
Trinity wasn't here.
She must still be "Dormant."
But Julia?
She wasn't surprised at all.
She stood calmly, arms crossed, wearing a black cloak now, her red eyes scanning the field like a general preparing for war.
Across from us, a second group of Players appeared.
The Watchers.
Led by Sable Ryn.
Same cold, obsidian stare. Same white braids. Same smirk like she'd seen all of this before.
She raised her hand.
And then—
The Reapers appeared.
Eight of them.
Floating between both factions.
Each one a different class:
Berserker with a jagged axe dripping black fire.
Spectral phasing through gravestones.
Warden already carving runes into the ground.
Shifter flickering through different forms—man, woman, child, animal.
Hunter crouched on all fours, sniffing the air like it could taste fear.
Harvester, its face blank but its mouth eternally open, whispering a song only the dead understood.
They didn't speak.
But the ground shook.
And suddenly, the first Reaper pointed at us—
Round One has begun.
The world twisted—
And we were all scattered.
Randomized.
Alone.
Of course. Can't have teamwork in a death game.
I landed in a swamp section of the graveyard. The water was black, shallow, thick. Trees with no leaves loomed above me like twisted skeletal arms.
I couldn't see anyone else.
But the Mark on my chest pulsed once, then flared to life.
[Soul Threads Active]
Nearby Player Detected.
Proximity: 30m.
I ducked behind a tree, slowing my breathing.
Who was it?
Friend? Enemy?
Keon? Vix? Orion?
Then I saw them.
A guy—maybe 18—tall, broad, glowing red Mark across his back.
Not one of ours.
Definitely Watcher-aligned.
He looked around, then pulled a weapon from thin air—some kind of curved dagger made of black glass.
He hadn't seen me.
This is it. First test.
First move.
Do I hide? Attack?
Then I remembered the message:
"Only the strong survive."
And for the first time…
I moved first.
I reached out, tapped into my Soul Echo power—
Saw the thread connecting him to the swamp.
He didn't even notice the air shift behind him as I severed the tether.
Suddenly, he sank.
The swamp dragged him down—choking, swallowing his legs, pulling him fast.
He screamed and flailed.
Too late.
The Reaper watching from the trees snapped its fingers.
A blade of black light sliced through the air—
Player Eliminated.
Just like that.
[Player D. Lorenzo – Eliminated]
Remaining Players: 10
I stumbled back, heart pounding.
My first kill.
Not with my hands—but I triggered it. I made the move. I chose to act.
The Mark pulsed again—stronger this time.
A new message appeared.
[Catalyst Path Progressed]
Soul Echo – Rank II Unlocked
Ability Gained: Soul Sever – [Temporary Bind]
And then—
Voices rang out across the broken sky.
Not human voices.
But announcers.
"Round One is now in full effect. Let the players shape their fate. Let the Reapers taste their choices."
I backed into the trees, gaze locked on the graveyard horizon.
In the distance, flashes of magic, energy, and blood filled the air.
The Reaper Games had truly begun.
And there was no turning back now.