3 【A Cursed Game】
The demon observed the masked man. Its vision, still blurry from the blood around its eyes.
Click!
The demon's body flinched as it heard the pistol's hammer click.
"I asked a question." Its face scowled.
Its eyes narrowed as it peered onto the man's hand, especially the finger that held the trigger.
The moment it saw the finger rearward, its tail wagged in front.
Bang!
Clunk!
The demon's tail knocked the bullet in the air with ease. Its face frowned, claws emanated a malicious dark aura.
Enraged, the demon charged.
Before Apollyon could pull back the trigger for another shot, the demon tail whipped and smote the man's arm.
The forearm bone shattered the moment it encountered the demon's tail.
The demon's arm and claws extended, grabbing Apollyon's neck and slamming him into the wall.
"Now" The demon clenched its claws, in order to suffocate Apollyon. "What are you?" asked the demon.
Apollyon's body remained tranquil, with no sign of struggle.
The demon extended its other arm towards the mask as the mask prevented it from being able to read Apollyon's expression.
But,
"Uncertainties fog your mind" Apollyon's voice induced the demon's body to flinch, and his arm stopped midway. "The memories hinder your judgement."
The demon's eyes redded, "Nothing" Apollyon noticed the slight hint of rage in his voice. "Hinders, my judgement."
"Then. Clench your claws and snap my neck", Apollyon spoke boldly, but the demon did not act.
The demon's expression changed, "Look closely as I demolish your tricks."
Screens appeared in front of the demon's eyes.
—
[100 Coins Traded]
[Demon Scrutiny(Rank: A+) (Authority: Tria-Demon)]
[Critical Observation Commenced]
—
"Now, let's see the truth veiled underneath your tricks."
—
[Subject: Candidate#666]
[Name: Apollyon]
[Race: Human] [Gender: Male | Age: 25 | Height: 1.87m | Weight: 89 kg]
[Physical status:]
[Strength: 30 | Endurace: 45 | Agility: 41 | Intelligence: 120 | Vitality: 0 ]
[Innate Traits:]
[Marginal Congenital Insensitivity(CIPA)][Borderline Psychopathic][Eidetic Memory]
[Assimilated Traits:]
[MindWeb][Bookworm][Hand to Hand Combat Mastery][17+ Weapon Mastery][Vain][Hypnotic Charisma][Slayer][+345 More]
[Unique Skills: N/A]
"What" The demon's sight peered the most in [Unique Skills]. Disbelief enfolded its mind as it noticed Apollyon had no skills.
When the demon felt a sense of Déjà vu. It presumed two scenarios:
-Apollyon had the skill to turn back time.
-Apollyon had the skill of illusion or hypnosis, which planted a false sense of Déjà vu in its mind.
The demon hesitated to kill the man because of these assumptions. If a person could travel back in time, then killing him would be meaningless.
He used the skill [Demon Scrutiny] to verify his hypothesis. However, the skilled neither proved nor disproved his theory.
According to the skill [Demon Scrutiny], the man had not awakened any skills.
Traits, be it innate or assimilated, were just 'Traits' any human could possess. Hence, not a supernatural skill.
The demon himself could not understand why he saw, what he saw?
Meanwhile,
Apollyon, since the moment the demon slammed him onto the wall, started analyzing.
On his mind rested a 'Web'. A web with over 1000 strings. On each string a category of information. And on each string, thousand more threads.
Every information Apollyon ever collected. Every experience he ever faced rested organized in the form of a web in his mind.
On his mind also rested a book. Every time Apollyon recalled information or had to register information, it would be through this book.
When he recalled information, the data would travel through the threads and present themselves as text in the book.
When he registered information, the information would transmute as a text, then attach itself to the string as a thread. And remain there forever.
Right now, the various pieces of information such as the instructions in the book with the crying demon, or the opponent demon's movement speed, the reflexes, the thought process, the hardness of the shell, all the things Apollyon perceived turned into threads.
The book in his mind started to recollect, analyze, and link current scenario with prior experiences to prepare countermeasures. And calculate the probability of various measures.
Seeing the demon's reaction, Apollyon realized what had transpired. He read about the skill [Demon Scrutiny] in the book. And realized the information that would get revealed through the skill would only engulf the demon in more denial.
However, seeing the demon's speed made him realize he could not beat him. At least not in this timeline.
So,
On his sleeve hid a blade. The demon's tail broke his right arm. However, his left arm yet remained free.
Apollyon's right arm swung in the air as a blade slipped out through his sleeve.
The demon may have been in a confused state, but still, he didn't fail to notice when a body in a tranquil state suddenly retaliated.
Seeing the blade, the demon let go of his grip and hopped back.
Had he decided to grab Aplloyon's left arm with his own, the outcome may have been different as the demon has failed to realize, the blade did not aim for him.
—
Blood poured down Apollyon's right eye as a blade pierced it and stabbed his brain.
….
A screen emerged in front of his eyes.
[Candidate#666] 「X」
[Name: Apollyon]
[Task: Announcement hall due on time]
[Remaining Time: 1 hour 59 minutes 55 second]
[The 21 Book Root Notes Detected In Your Memory]
[You have Completed The Manual]
[Rank#95〔People Who Completed The Manual〕Determined]
He lifted his left arm and pressed the "X."
Apollyon touched his eyes with one of his hands. A smile grew on his face. Then, he laughed.
"Ahh, the blood rush."
Now,
After reading the book with the crying demon face, Apollyon had learned a lot about demons.
"Roulette," said Apollyon.
On mid-air formed a blue roulette wheel.
The numbers on the wheel marked a skill. The participants would get a skill depending on the number the ball would stop at.
Every roll costed coins. However, the first roll for every participant remained free.
One could obtain this information by reading the book left in their room.
Apollyon did not roll the ball before, as he wanted to see how a human in peak condition would compare against a demon.
Now that he realized the difference.
The time to roll arrived.
—
The announcement hall stretched wide. Over 1000 people had gathered up there.
However, at the moment, everyone had an exact look on their face—a look that comprised of shock, disgust, horror, and agony. None moved as they all tried to comprehend the scene in front.
—
When the people first gathered here. Everyone had a look of panic and anger on their face. The people gathered fell in the age group around 18-40.
"Bring the manager!"
"Someone call the police! "
"There's no signal."
"Where's this!"
Only a few exceptions remained calm.
While gathering around the announcement hall, some groups of like-minded people formed.
"Now, I express my greetings" An individual arrived out of thin air on the stage.
His voice and appearance attracted everyone's attention.
The individual had an alluring human face, with blue hair and a sharp jawline. However, when the individual opened his wide onyx eyes, the people looking felt horror pass down their spine.
"From this day. You are a participant here. Here where PRIDE, INTEGRITY, MORAL has no place. And if you want to live. Give up on your prior goals. Give up on your freedom. Give up on happiness. And struggle for survival."
When the individual said such words in such a monotonous and cold voice, the people roared, they shouted.
Meanwhile, the individual brew a twisted smile on his face.
"To live, you must realize your value. Value as pawns. Pawns made for our entertainment. Beg, cry, mourn, and if you cannot take it, kill yourself. And we shall witness it all. We shall laugh as you cry, bet as you struggle. But welcome you when you abandon your humanity and lose all sanity."
"Shut it!"
"how dare!"
"Someone get that bastard!"
The people could not take his tone anymore.
They raged, three men climbed the stage and tried to beat the individual.
But,
This was the moment when all of the people's expressions synced.
The people saw the individual rip out three skulls with one swift stroke.
Some fell on their knees, some screamed and ran, some fainted. Finally, however, some realized the gravity of their situation.
"Now then" The individual shook off the blood from his hands. His expression yet remained indifferent. "As I said, you're nothing but pawns. You have no right to retaliate. You have no right to hold an opinion. The sole right you have is to play the game."
The individual kept speaking, but many did not listen. They started to panic. Some tried to leave through the hotel's exit gate. However, the gate did not open.
The individual laughed as he saw the people panic, "You fools. Now there's only one thing you can do" He laughed louder, "Run, Humans, Run."
[Phase One: Slaughterhouse will now commence.]
