System Force Quit

I slashed downward at Illya's back, causing her to bleed a little, but she was instantly healed with her golden strands.

Six tendrils, just like Zeal's on the day of the Coliseum raid, shot out of her back and swung at everybody as she turned around to face me.

She picked me up with her arm and squeezed my throat, in an attempt to kill me... knowing that I was about to lose my body here left me without any fear, and so, I struck back.

I threw my dagger down at my foot and kicked it up, with the tip of the blade piercing Illya's jaw.

I then pushed my fingers into her eyes, but she didn't take it lightly to that.

She stole my legs from me with a saber swipe and punched me so hard in the head that my eye caved in and I was launched into the wall of a crater.

I was stuck in the rock and forced to watch the battle ensue.

Carl charged in now, with his eye healed and his hand back, he was much more capable of competing against Illya.

Carl summoned a two-handed weapon, an axe like the one on the beach, and slammed it down in front of Illya. It looked like he purposefully missed, and I wasn't sure of his strategy until Drake came in to swing at Illya's head with a broadsword, instead of a saber.

Illya broke it and the metal shattered into millions of pieces.

"You won't even touch me with that pathetic weapon," Illya said.

Right after she got done gloating, the weapon perfectly acted as a distraction for Ellie to come up and slam her heel into the back of Illya's head from above.

Illya was stunned, and Drake held her arms up in order to stop her from moving.

And Eo finally jumped in again, with a large scythe in hand that got even bigger as it pierced Illya's chest.

It intersected right through Lily's thrown dagger and pushed both right through her chest, tying Illya to the ground as we all looked at her from afar, and even close. We were all out of energy, panting, and Illya was still silent, impaled twice over.

I stopped focusing on the fight and looked to the right after I heard something shaking.

It was Faith. She was standing, with both of her hands on her weapon, while staring in Illya's direction. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she was trembling like I'd never seen before.

"Hey... what's up with you? Why aren't you fighting?" I asked her.

"Dead... we're all dead..." She muttered. I was confused by what she meant, but Faith eventually pointed toward Illya.

"There are strands... everywhere... she's about to release them..." Faith said.

Just as it came out of her mouth, a phrase shot out of Illya's mouth and filled everybody's ears with a terrifying volume.

[SYSTEM FORCE QUIT, THE FIRST TRIAL]

It said.

Strands shot out of the ground and effectively destroyed everything. Rocks, the sky, the walls, the people... even herself... it was all gone... in a matter of a second...

…

…

…

I woke back up in The Real World, and when I finally gathered my consciousness, I opened my eyes, to see a white-haired boy holding his forearms together in a cross, blocking a saber in front of us.

Illya tried to strike us and kill us... but he was here... saving our lives?

"I don't know what you've done with Belle and the others... but you should know how this is going to go from here on out." He muttered.

His hair started to float up like there was a ton of static electricity, and it turned the same color as the frozen girl we saw just as we entered The First Trial.

From there, Illya flipped her body in an attempt to kick the white-haired boy, but he grabbed her ankle, squeezed, and Illya's arms exploded.

Illya retreated, but just as she touched the ground with her feet after flipping a great distance, her legs exploded, and then, her arm exploded again as she touched the ground.

The white-haired boy had his hand risen, and it looked like every time Illya touched the ground, a part of her body blew up into blood and flesh.

He turned his head to the right as Illya disappeared and caught her mid-kick with her insane speed.

With his eyes fixated on hers, the white-haired boy clasped his hand around her ankle again and slammed Illya into the ground. It cracked, but that wasn't the only thing that happened.

It felt like the entire Isle split in half.

Recovering from the insane damage, Illya slid to the ground and regenerated her body with golden strands, as the boy in front of us fell to his knees, and eventually down onto the ground.

Eo jumped in front of the boy again and blocked a strike, and then, everybody else stood by his side.

Dani sat up from the injured people in the world, and they all seemed to be doing better. Her strand work healed them all, and they were even conscious to witness the fight.

"Lia, are you alright?" Dani asked me. She wasn't looking at me, but she sincerely meant it. Dani's eyes were fixated up in the air toward Illya. They were making eye contact with each other...

And Dani's eyes started to shift in color.

Just as spears of strands came down from the sky toward Dani, she stood, with her arms crossed, and Faith jumped in, at last, slashing down all projectiles aimed at Dani.

Faith stood bravely against Illya, and as Illya touched the ground after floating upward. More smoke blew away.

Everybody was sitting around her... with cuts, bruises, and severed limbs all around them.

Some people... had it worse...

I turned to see Drake's dismembered head far away from his body. I was too shocked to even move... but that wasn't all.

Limbs were everywhere... and it looked like a jungle of internal organs strewn about the landscape. That happened way too fast...

The only people who weren't injured were Carl, Rin, Ren, Ellios, Moon, Griff, and Jeff.

"By saving that piece of shit, you know what you've declared, right, Faith?" Illya asked her.

"This is wrong... we need to do this another way!" Faith shouted out.

"Then, this is what it's like being betrayed. Ah... I almost forgot how sweet that insanity felt..." Illya said. She smiled down at her kid, and I jumped in front of her to block Illya's strike.

In one swipe alone, Illya cut off my arm, and part of my leg.

I ended up landing on top of Faith and used the last of my strength to look her dead in her eyes.

I know that look... that hopeful look.

Faith seemed very analytical when we first met, but through and through, she was still a little girl.

"Forget your feelings, forget your mercy... your mom will kill us all, and you're the only one who can stop it," I told Faith before losing consciousness on top of her.