It's a Cruel World We Live In

Aki. That was the new name they gave him because they claimed Amatsumikaboshi was too long. But he didn't understand. How was such a grand, magnificent name too long for those lowly humans to say? They should be honored to be able to utter his name without their heads going off. But of course, the nickname was not the worst part. They had started to bully him and target him by making fun of his new nickname!

"Oi, Aki-chan is okay, right? Aki-chan~!" Joker smiled, finding her new target. Brainless numbskulls were always the easiest to make fun of, and she knew it. She loved his reactions.

"Aki-chan~!" Amatsumikaboshi, or 'Aki', felt a chill run over his body. It had only been 3 days since he had transferred into the System, but his fear of Joker was already engraved into his mind. She loved to prank him, bully him, and make fun of him, all because his reactions were very unique.

"Stop calling me Aki-chan!" Aki yelled. "You can call me Aki, but not Aki-chan!"

"Why not?" Joker smirked, twirling her knife around. She saw his eyes shaking after seeing the knife. He had gone through torture with her knives the past three days; finding himself suddenly pinned to the wall, or his pants being ripped, or a scar on his face from a knife whizzing by. Her knives were one of the reasons he was afraid, as magic would not work inside the System.

"Actually, on second thought, Aki-chan doesn't sound that bad..." said Aki, keeping his eye on the knife and backing into his room. He quickly turned and slammed the door, leaving Joker alone sitting on the long meeting table. Her smile disappeared. There had not been any missions lately, and with Aki avoiding her, she was bored to death. Then a buzz came in her ear from her secret ear piece. Joker's mood went down even more. 'What does this bitch need again?'

"Joker?" Princess Anastasia said through the ear piece.

"What is it this time, bitch?" Joker rolled her eyes. "Oops, it slipped it out, Your Royal Highness."

"Whatever. When are you killing off those useless little bugs?!? I thought you could do anything!" Anastasia vehemently whispered. She knew Joker hated being told what she could and couldn't do.

"Shut up. I'll do it, just wait. I'm hanging up." Joker pressed her ear piece and slumped onto the table. She sighed, swinging her knife lazily. She was bored recently because Aki was avoiding her like the plague, and the latest person she had killed off was Amay. 'What a cruel System, implanting a mole so not everyone can reincarnate...' She was surprised Annie and cYber#1 had figured out how to reincarnate. 'Took them long enough, huh'. Now that she was being offered a position when she reincarnates through the System by Anastasia, she had nothing to worry about. Once all the League members reincarnate or are eliminated, she can reincarnate because she is the spy the System planted.

"Joker...You're in contact with Anastasia?" Quinn stepped out from the shadows, with a look of shock on her face.

"...Shit." Joker swung her knife across the room, aiming for Quinn's neck. Quinn hastily dodged, the knife disappearing into blackness.

"JOKER, YOU'RE IN CONTACT WITH ANASTASIA?!?!" Quinn screamed at the top of her lungs, to ensure everyone heard. The ringing of Quinn's voice made Joker block her ears.

"...What's the meaning of this, Joker? I though we were--" Annie came out from her room, a shocked face, when suddenly Joker's knife came swinging. Annie quickly reacted, deflecting the knife with her teddy bear.

"What? Friends? Nah, but what you guys are gonna be is sure: dead." At this moment, the single knife in Joker's hand split into five more.

"Holy Shiitake Mushrooms, Joker's going all out!" Biranca had lived in the same world as Joker, and she knew the massive extent of Joker's skills. An expert with anything sharp, her acrobatic skills, close combat knowledge, and aggressive personality made her a formidable opponent.

[Mission: Eliminate the Traitor] The System's steely voice broke into all of their minds.

"Ha, eliminate me? Not a chance!" Joker flashed before Nocens, who was just exiting his room to see what the commotion was about. And with a slash of her knife, his head disappeared into darkness.

[Nocens has been eliminated]

"How cruel...I like it!" Quinn flashed her lipstick smile, transforming her small mascara into a large dagger. Charging at Joker, she slashed at her body, only to find it not there anymore.

"Sorry, too slow!" And with a smile and a slash, the System announced the result.

[Quinn has been eliminated]

"Who's next?" Joker smiled, swinging her bloody blade around.

"How could you be so cruel? We're all in the same team!" Gun roared, loading his oversized sword with mana.

"It's a cruel world we live in, boy."

"F*ck."

***

"Gumiho should be around...here." cYber#1, or 'Hansol', had been trying to track down Gumiho for the last few months. Because the time in the System and the time in the real world were different, a month could be one day in the System.

When cYber#1 approached the gate of a mansion, he rung the doorbell and waited.

"Who is it?" a maid answered.

"I'd like to see the master of the house."

"I'm sorry, he's very busy--"

"Tell him that I want to see...Gumiho."

"Okay, I'll tell him that." The maid turned and left, leaving Hansol/cYber#1 at the gate. A few minutes later, he saw a handsome man running down the lane.

"Hey Gumiho!"

"Shut up! Come inside, and let's talk." Gumiho opened the gate and walked through the front door, leading him to an elevator.

"You have an elevator inside your house?! What?!?" Hansol was getting a little jealous, seeing his mansion. He had been reborn as a teenager, and was currently gliding through high school.

"So what? I deserve this. Do you know how painful it is to get stabbed by a bolt of energy?! You try it, and maybe you'll get a mansion too, hmph." Gumiho pressed the 10th floor, fixing his necktie in the reflective walls of the elevator. When they got out, the pair turned left into a grand study.

"So?"

"So what?"

"So what do you think about my glorious study?" Gumiho smiled. He loved his study the most.

"Whatever. Why is your name...Eliott McLeon? Ha, so you're Eliott now. Nice."

"Anyway, we're getting off topic. What did you come find me for?" Gumiho, or rather, Eliott, glared. Hansol noticed something in his eyes.

"You...You still have your fox powers?" Hansol stepped closer to Eliott, looking closely into his eyes. For a second, when Eliott had glared, his eyes had reverted into his unique ice-blue and fiery red pair of eyes.

"Yes, I thought our memories and our former powers would be wiped when we reincarnated, but I can still make runes and fox beads, and they're more powerful than before. The System told us that our memories would be wiped, but instead of encountering System, I saw God."

"Same. Maybe the heavens are interfering after seeing the humans disrupt the cycle of things in the soul realm..." Hansol muttered. The gears in his mind were turning, calculating and thinking hard.

"Wait, stop going off topic, you bastard. Why did you come see me?" Eliott, exasperated, grumbled.

"I came to see you because you and I know both knew Joker is a traitor. But that's not all I came to talk about."

"I found the System's secret, and I might be able to communicate with them."

"What?!? How? We're both smart enough to know that probably Joker is trying to eliminate them all because the smart and the strongest one are gone."

"Biranca. She's the key."