Reunion

As the Queen led Felix to a small door, hidden away from all the people, he looked around – with a red imprint of a hand on his cheek. He was still scanning the big ball room for Kim, although he wasn't having any luck this far. He sighed quietly and kept following the Queen, as she entered through the concealed door with him being right behind her. Despite its small door, the room was quite cozy – there sat a big chair in one of the corners, and three other small ones right next to it. In the very middle of the room, then spreading all throughout it, the floor looked slightly off – it reminded Felix of a boxing ring.

The room was a bright red, and there weren't any windows or any other doors anywhere to be seen. Instead, there was a weapon rack in the corner opposite of the chair. This piqued Felix's interest, so he asked the Queen, curious, "Uh, your Majesty, is this... a training room, by chance?"

"Keen eye, Fox. Well... It is, but it's also not."

"...Uhm, yeah, right. Thank... you?"

Seeing how the Queen addressed Felix by his name again, he knew there wasn't any point in asking her where exactly she knew it from in the first place. Instead, he threw another glance at the weapon rack and whispered "{Clear Vision.}" to see it better. Immediately, his eyes practically zoomed in on the weapon rack, allowing him to see what idly sat on it – and, as expected, he saw a bunch of wooden weapons of many kinds. From spears to daggers, there was one of everything on the rack – making sure to accustom anyone and everyone. He blinked once and aggressively, and his eyes shifted back to brown from the bright green they were a second ago as he looked back at the Queen, only to see... nothing.

"Eh?"

As his eyes flew to the door, he saw the Queen leaving the room with a wave and a smile, but not before yelling out to him, "Just wait here for a bit, I'll be back soon!"

Then, the door slammed and Felix remained in the room... alone. He let out another, heavier sigh, and he started pacing around the room furiously. Soon, a green window opened up somewhere to his side, so he brought it forwards and started reading it as he walked.

[Congratulations on making it to the Queen's Battlefield! Please wait here until Her Majesty finds three more suitable candidates for the Floor Reward. Since you found Her Majesty first, you'll have an Advantage!]

Felix read the Blank with a sour taste in his mouth. Why were three other Liners needed for this if he found the Queen first? Something felt off... Right as Felix shoved the Blank away, another appeared right in front of his eyes, uncomfortably close.

[Godspeed!]

After walking around the room for a while, quite a bit of time had passed, and by now Felix had already looped two or three times. As he was about to start his fourth loop, the small door to his left swung wide open, as the Queen entered followed by three other men he couldn't see fully yet. Felix sighed and stopped in his tracks, happy the wait was finally over as he speaks, "You sure took your time, your Majesty."

"Shut it, Fox. Meet your competition."

["Competition...?"]

As the Queen took a few steps to the side, revealing the three other participants, Felix couldn't help but crack a slight smirk as he saw quite the unusual trio. Two of them were glaring at each other, as red and blue sparks almost went flying everywhere from just their eyes – even if one of the men had black eyes. One of them, the one with black eyes, was tall and he had a classy full black suit on, with no tie on. The other one was even taller and he had bright blue hair, rocking a purplish suit with a white bowtie on. Of course, they were none other than Kim Jaehyun and Haruko Aratashi. Felix's eyes slowly glanced over at the third man, and... uh, who the hell was this guy? He was about as tall as Kim and he had bright yellow hair, as shiny as the sun itself. He had a white suit on, and his stance looked way more elegant than any Felix had seen before.

"Who is...?"

Before Felix even got to finish his sentence, the man was already next to him, with his hand extended out straighter than an arrow and his smile stretching from one ear to another. He spoke quickly but clearly, "Nice to meet you, sir! My name is Adam. Adam White."

["He's fast..."]

Felix raised an eyebrow at the man and rose his hand, slowly shaking Adam's hand as he spoke, "Yeah... Call me Fox."

This "Adam" was basically radiating with positivity, and his smile was doing just the same. Yet Felix... wasn't exactly feeling it. His eyes shifted downwards, slowly turning green as he glanced at Adam's shadow. Even though he himself was probably the most happy person Felix had ever seen, his shadow... looked wrong. Different. Felix looked up again, into Adam's eyes. And even if their natural yellow color spoke of nothing but positivity, his black pupils revealed the truth. This guy was more dangerous than even Kim. Felix quickly took a step to the side and walked past Adam, excusing himself in the process. Felix didn't dare look back at him as he walked away, though.

He was heading for the one and only, Kim, who was still in a standoff – or rather, a staring contest – with Haruko. He had never seen Kim look so bloodthirsty before, yet Felix knew he'd behave, as his sword wasn't on him. As he finally reached the two, Felix tried getting their attention with a "Hey." but it didn't work, as neither of them budged, or even blinked. He sighed and tried again, with a "Guys." but still, nothing. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, annoyed, then took another step closer.

As soon as he was close enough, he stomped his foot right in the middle of them, as a green aura started rising up from it – one so bright they were sure to notice. Both of them snapped out of it slightly, but what sealed the deal was Felix's green eyes and him telling them in a cold, bored tone, "Are you done yet?"

Haruko came to his senses first, and he just glared at Felix, yet he didn't say anything. Instead, he just turned around and walked away. Felix looked at his back for a while, before turning to face Kim, his eyes slowly fading back into brown. Kim looked after Haruko for one more second before he redirected his gaze at Felix, and immediately his whole demeanor changed as he let out a "Felix! It was you that found the Queen?!"

"Why're you acting so surprised...?"

"Because I wanted to do it. But I just couldn't figure out which one was her..."

"What was your strategy?"

"None. Every single woman there walked up to me and asked me to dance. So, I was quite busy."

"...Yeah, man. Sounds, sounds rough..."

Kim raised an eyebrow as the realization set in, and he asked confused yet intrigued, "Wait, how did you find her?"

Felix thought for a second before tugging on his glove slightly, then shrugging his shoulders, "I dunno, man. Must've been my Luck Stat or somethin'..."

"Maybe I should also upgrade it when I level up..."

"You do that, Kim."

Right as Felix finished speaking, the Queen called out to everyone, as she was now sitting on the big chair in the corner of the room. All four men soon made their way over there, and as soon as they did, she started speaking in a firm, loud tone, "First of all, let me say that I'm extremely happy you all could attend this ball of mine. Especially you, Fox."

Felix just awkwardly nodded, and the Queen continued, "Anyways, we all know why you're here. The... special prize, no?"

The four men remained silent, yet she was right – they were all here for the Floor Reward. And since this was a |Solo Floor|... They knew it was probably just too good to pass up! The Queen then slowly raised out something from behind her back – a small crown, laced with jewelry yet looking plain and elegant. She raised it up with both hands above her, and gently placed it on her head. All four of them were glancing up at it as a big Blank opened up right above the Queen.

[King Arthur's Crown

– Exquisite Rarity –

The crown of the long dead King Arthur. It is said to buff all of the Stats of the owner by 2 when held in one's Inventory or worn on their head. Some say it might also act as a Key to a certain cellar further up The Line...]

The four glanced up at the crown, their eyes wide and shocked. This reward... was way too good for such an easy Floor! Not only did it buff the owner at any time just by having it, it also acted as a key to something that might come later on – it was a buy one get one free deal! They all threw glances at one another, ready to jump at each other's throats. The Queen cleared her throat, then spoke up in an even fiercer tone.

"But."

The men's attention was once again redirected at her, and she continued speaking soon after, "Fox was the first to find me. No matter how you look at it... it's his win. His crown."

Everyone fell silent, as not even a breath nor heartbeat could be heard in the room – except for Felix, who spoke up confused, "Then... why'd you bring them here?"

The Queen smirked, and she raised up her gloved hand as she spoke, "Well, to make things interesting, of course."

She stood up, then continued, "The crown is yours, Fox... If you manage to keep it."

The Queen then walked over to Felix, taking the crown off of her own head and placing it on Felix's, gently. She smiled at him, then turned around to the other three, speaking as she did, "And you three... You all want this, no?"

She then pushed Felix backwards, onto the different colored floor. The very moment he stepped on it, a Blank timer opened up and started floating above his head – [05:00]

"You all have five minutes. Go grab yourselves a weapon of your choice... and get the crown, if you can."

The three men glanced back at Felix, with extreme greed in their eyes – even Kim wanted that crown. Each of their eyes had a different glow, but all Felix could see was blue, red and yellow, all looking down at him like some twisted rainbow. The three immediately started sprinting full speed towards the weapon rack on the opposite side, as Felix was left with his mouth wide open, only to close it back up himself. He looked at the Queen, shocked, and yelled out a "What?!"

"You can do it, no? Survive, I mean."

"Against those two?! Never! And now, there's the third guy too...!"

"But you have the crown."

"I... Well, yeah, but..."

"And, you're not going for the weapon rack... Why?"

"Ah, that. Well, your Majesty... I'm guessing, unlike those three..."

Felix turned around, sighing as he saw his three opponents armed with wooden weapons. Kim and Haruko each had a sword, for obvious reasons, and Adam was holding onto two daggers, ready to strike at any time. Felix started tugging on his red necktie, then suddenly pulled the whole suit off himself as it seemed to turn back into its liquid state – except for the glove, that remained on his hand – leaving him in his random combination of clothes from back on Earth – dirtied by goblin, wolf, demon and orc blood. He extended his hand out and dug it deep into a green square, only to soon pull it out while holding onto a small red ball, as green lightning crackled all around his arm, disappearing at the same time as the square.

"...I don't keep my weapon on my body."