Stage 1-5.5

"What?! You're just gonna let him go?!" Isaac's bad temper acts up again.

"I only said he won't be participating in this mission, he'll join Living Cemetery after the tournament ends as he said so himself, you'll be able to collect your taxes then." GPS replied.

"Oh, gotcha, phew..."

"That was what you're concerned about?" Miller says while looking down on Isaac disdainfully.

"What?" Isaac shows an annoyed glare to Miller.

"You only care about taxing the kid?! He's literally been with Shockwave, he must have some inside information that could be helpful for us!" Miller asserts.

"Do you have any useful information that you would like to share with your future alliance?" GPS asks me, she hasn't been a bit different since I've entered the room, still scribbling away with her pencil and crayons.

"Uh well..." Originally, my inside information is the fact that they will be hiding in the game lobby building, that of course, is a pretext for my original plan to work.

But now, I don't see it's necessity, I could just say that I indeed don't know anything, that I'm useless for this mission, and I'll be able to walk scot-free.

It's like she's confident I'll actually join Living Cemetery, how foolish is that, I overestimated her this time.

"I don't actually know anything..."

"What?! You don't?! How's that possible?!" Miller pushes me on my shoulders and asks fiercely.

"I don't, I only know they hid in my place earlier, that's it..." I tried acting guilty by hanging my head, which was extremely effective against GPS apparently.

"That settles it, feel free to walk out now, Sean Anthony." She says, she seems to be completely convinced I've actually betrayed my alliance and fled to Living Cemetery.

Ha, in the end, your thinking is as immature as your age suggests, GPS.

"Oh...alright then." I exited the lounge and subsequently the bar casually, no one stopped me in my path, GPS herself spoke after all.

Yet after about 10 minutes of walking towards the game lobby to regroup with my alliance, a thought hits me.

It's unsafe to assume someone's weakness, what if she hasn't played all her cards in hand? What if I'm falling right into her trap?

I stopped in the middle of the red brick path where players travels on. Players walked past me while I stood amongst the crowd, wondering how could anything be this easy.

No, it's not so easy, something's off.

She's a master stalker, GPS letting me loose like this, I doubt finding me again will be of any issue to her.

That's it! I don't notice it right now, but I'm almost certain she's tailing me right this moment.

She lets me walk out scot-free not because she's convinced I've betrayed my alliance, but that she's convinced my loyalty stayed there.

She lets me walk out to regroup with my alliance, at that point she will know not just mine, but my entire alliance's location, rounding us up will be child's play.

I get it, she doesn't want me, she wants my alliance, she wants Eleanor, I'm merely a guide for her to follow.

It's brilliant, she's no ordinary girl, she's a deceptive strategist.

What did she say I should do again? Right, watch the tournament, enjoy the thrills of the top alliances battling it out against eachother.

I better play along with my story right now then, I'm gonna be the guy that betrayed his alliance, wants to join Living Cemetery but can't yet, so he watched his future leader competes while waiting.

"Where do I watch the tournament?" I thought in my head.

"Basement of the game lobby building." The earpiece responds.

Also the game lobby building huh? Well I just have to act like they aren't there, and that I'm simply there to enjoy the tournament, no other ulterior motives.

I then walked with cautions, occasionally taking peeks and glances behind me, seeing if I can find her in the crowd.

I can't let my actions be too suspicious however, so any big movements weren't possible, I don't want her to know I'm aware of her presence after all.

No matter how closely I observe, the crowd is just that, the crowd, no sight of her nor men from Living Cemetery.

Master stalker for a reason, bet she must've made millions of points just by stalking and selling players' location. Millions.

‎ ‎ ‎

Eventually gave up on trying to find her, or maybe a subordinate of her that might be stalking me. I arrived at the game lobby building.

It was crowded to the point where it's suffocating, I squeezed myself through hordes of players until I reach one of the several hundred stairwells inside the game lobby building.

Another thing after the elevator that I swear didn't exist a day before, this stairwell didn't used to lead to a basement. Hell, I don't remember this building ever having a basement to begin with.

Similar to the elevator, it just appeared, and this is actually real life as proven by Ghostdoctor. Wonder how the gamemasters even manage to make these structures appear out of nowhere like magic.

Eventually I made it down to the basement, well, does this really constitutes a basement?

It's like a football stadium, except underground, except 100 times larger.

Instead of a green grass field in the middle, it's multiple holograms of what seems to be announcers, the hosts of this tournament.

They're all young female characters with suggestive clothings and perfectly sculpted appearances. Targeting the male audiences' attention I see, it's somewhat working on me.

"Next match of the tournament will begin in 30 minutes! Only 128 alliances left standing! Place your bets right now with just a single thought and win big!" The holographic hosts announces in unison.

Compared to the dull earpiece voice, they sound a lot more enthusiastic, they also announces while moving energetically and girlishly. They're fake but not gonna lie, it was quite cute for me.

Finding an empty seat wasn't easy, especially since I had to squeeze through the crowd of players to get anywhere at all.

Eventually I did sat down, I thought I should legitimately understand how to watch the tournament to support my act as the guy who betrayed his alliance.

"Run me through the details of the tournament." I thought in my head.

"Afterlife Tournament, alliances competes in teams of five to win the ultimate prize of five passes back into life.

You can check the matchups of every round in the tournament on the holographic boards next to the hosts.

Before every match starts, players have half an hour to place bets in the form of points on the alliance they think will survive this round.

Your bet will double in the event where the alliance you bet on survives the round, your bet will be lost in the event where the alliance you bet on forfeited, resigned or is eliminated.

You can only place one bet on one alliance every round. You can place your bet through mere thoughts.

Also with mere thoughts, you can select your spectating perspective. Multiple matches occurs simultaneously every round, you can select a specific player to watch the match from their point of view.

The first person perspective of the player you selected will be displayed in the form of holograms in the centre of the stadium and only you will be able to see it." A very long explanation from the earpiece.

Easy enough to understand.

"2000 points on Living Cemetery this round." I thought. Living Cemetery was against an alliance I've not seen on the leaderboards, should be easy money for me.

"Your bet has been placed." Earpiece responds.

I'm fairly certain, judging by how sharp she was during our conversation, that she's tailing me this very moment.

I don't think just keeping up this act will be enough to get out of this predicament, I need another plan.