Next Initiation

Beep!

Ian, Gian-Luca, and the man in black all heard the familiar noise interrupt their scene.

"Is that the bomb?!!" Gian-Luca covered his ears and closed his eyes. To his surprise, there was no explosion that followed, but rather an announcement.

"Specialized Phase E has been completed. The contender that has defused the bomb has received a powerful protective charm."

Ian checked his device. The timer had stopped at one second before the explosion. "My god…"

The two Sins looked back up at their perpetrator. The man in black was gone.

"Where did he go…?" The two checked their surroundings, ensuring that they were safe.

"Cough!" Ian said. There was no coughing response in the area to his command, meaning that wherever the man in black was must've been far away by now.

"Who was that?" Gian-Luca asked.

"I don't know, but he seemed strong…" Ian gritted his teeth. "I think that's the first time as a Sin that I'd ever felt challenged."

"Me too." Gian-Luca looked around. "Say, where is Veronica after all?"

Thump!

A female came through the hole in the ceiling and landed in front of them.

"Right here, baby." She twirled a golden necklace around on her finger.

"Is that the charm?!" Ian rushed over. "You were the one who defused the bomb?"

"I told you it was on the highest floor," Veronica smiled. She was satisfied to finally steal Ian's attention in some way. "The Pendant of Undying, 'a necklace which if worn will satisfy the protective needs of its user in ways desired. Contains up to four evasions of death'."

"Four evasions of death…?" Ian understood the meaning. "You have four lives then, Veronica…"

"That's amazing…" Gian-Luca chimed in.

Both were amazed by the abilities attained for Veronica in her feat of defusing the bomb. They all let out a sigh of relief at surpassing death once more in this tournament.

"Does that mean if I'm killed now I won't actually die?" Veronica asked.

"I think it means that things that would normally kill you in the next four instances won't actually make you die. You'll probably be invulnerable to the next four fatal attacks."

"He's right," Ian included himself. "Take for example: you get shot four times in the stomach right now. Neither shot will be fatal to you and you'll survive. That's probably how it works."

"That's amazing…" Veronica held the pendant. She didn't know whether she should wear it yet, so she stored it in her pocket for the meantime.

Beep!

The familiar sound broke the group's calm moment, and a new announcement was made.

"13 contenders remaining, Phase 4 initiated. Starting from the tournament's outermost boundaries, a wall of petrifying gas will slowly move in towards the center of the map. Getting caught in the gas will result in immediate fatal petrification and elimination."

The death-seeking words echoed loudly in the hearts of those that listened.

"Petrifying gas…?"

"We'll be turned to stone… It's a slow and painful death…"

Gian-Luca shook the thought off. "No… We need to find Midas and get to the center immediately!"

Ian checked his device. The objective board only contained Phase 4's condition. "But we don't even know if we have time for that…"

"There's no timer?"

"No."

Veronica included herself in the discussion. "But maybe Midas is nearby! We can just search the area and then we can finally be whole again!"

Ian sighed. He turned towards Veronica with hurt in his eyes. "Midas might be dead. I hate to say it, but the leader might have already met that fate by now. If he is dead, then we'll be wasting our time looking for a ghost when we could be guaranteeing our safety by heading to the center right away—"

The pain of a sudden slap spread across Ian's face. "You're so selfish!!!" Veronica began to bawl. All that ever drove her will forwards were the gatherings of the Sins, of her kin. To have witnessed one die before her, Vidia, and to assume the leader was dead, Midas, pain etched its way into her heart bit-by-bit.

"I can't accept that… Not when we'd already let one of our comrades pass… I won't let another pass even if they might be dead!"

Veronica's words caught onto Gian-Luca's emotions. He felt his heart stringing along.

"I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try looking around for a bit, right? The announcer said the gas would start from the outermost boundaries, and that's…"

A dark shadow suddenly gloomed over them. They all turned around, shocked to see that the worst case scenario had once again caught up to them.

"...Right here…?"

A tall cloud of drowning green gas, opaque and dense, engulfing everything it passed, was slowly approaching the Sins with momentum it gained as it ate the environment that it petrified.