Capture the Banner (6) - 74

Before anybody could start asking questions, Axim spoke once more.

"For those that have lost, you may leave now. For those that have won, please stay here."

As the losers left the room, I knew, I could feel it, something was about to go down as I noticed the minder's almost imperceptible change in posture.

...

<Valen's POV>

I knew what was about to happen.

After all, I had set up the entirety of my plan just for this moment.

The moment where my perfect clear would come to fruition.

As soon as the last person on the loser team had left, Axim started talking again.

"Due to the manifesting of a perfect completion scenario, the Captain of the winning team can now make a choice."

He let this sink in for the rest of the children before he continued.

"Number 212, you can either save everyone here and be given nothing, or, you can pick ten people out and then kill the rest with your own hands... for an advantage in the next test."

Well, for me, it was a no brainer.

After all, I didn't care a single bit for these people, they were just characters in a book I had read, and I would be leaving after I finished my objective anyways.

'Wait, what did I just think about? Just characters in a book... Hmm..."

I began to ponder why I had made emotional connections with the characters in "My Side of Midnight".

Was it because there was another transmigrator? Was it because it had been my favorite book series of all time? Who knew?

Anyways, now, here I was, trying to glean the most out of my reward, and to also speed up the completion of the quest that I had been given.

You see, there was one thing I hadn't told you guys yet, and that was the clear condition of this black portal.

And that was, I had to win the General Games.

Yep, I just had to win, all the aftermath didn't matter.

The only problem right now was, I had no idea where the third person that had been forced into this gate was.

The last member of the Hero's party, and the, well, now not future spouse of Ms. Krenshaw.

But, I had to take this gamble, as I needed to get out of this portal as quickly as possible, the situation in Laramil was at a breaking point, and anything that was outside of my plans could completely destroy the scenario that I had tried to mold the plot towards.

"How about I allow only 3 numbers to live, the rest can die. In return, can I make a request?"

"As long as it is deemed plausible for the price of 7 more numbers." Replied Axim without a hint of hesitation. It seemed like the Minders had already figured out that I treated the lives of the other numbers like trash, but now, they had to be wondering, why three?

Anyways, they pushed a gun into my hand, and I started a massacre, shooting anything that moved down on the stage below, all whilst making sure not to shoot one person.

Of course, Ms. Krenshaw was safe up here in the box with me, as, of the top ten from beforehand, 7 had been eliminated during the course of the "Capture the Banner" test, and so, with Number 1 having already left, it was only us two remaining on the top ten platform.

I kept on shooting until there was no movement left except for the one number cowering in fear with their hands trying to protect their head in a futile attempt.

Well, once they noticed the stop in the gunfire, they gingerly lifted their hands off their head and met my gaze defiantly.

'Yep, that's him, the last victim of this portal.'

Grinning at my ingenuity, I gave the gun back to the being residing in the darkness.

...

I just stared at the bunk above mine with my hands behind my head, as I thought about what had happened after the massacre.

First, due to us being in a portal, Ms. Krenshaw thought that the characters in this world were just monsters, or that we were just in an illusion, that was why she didn't even bat an eye as I killed all those children.

As for the other portal goer, we didn't even talk to them, and Ms. Krenshaw trusted my judgement enough that she didn't question it.

After all, I had come up with a plan, predicting all my opponent's movements in this previous test, and she had been one of the ones privy to the information, and was one of the ones that witnessed my ingenuity firsthand.

Finally, as for the request that I had asked for, it had simply been for them to move all of the bunks of the remaining numbers in my sector, so that they were all next to each other.

You see, after this last test, we would finally start the team battles against the other sectors of this building.

I mean, didn't I say in the beginning that there were millions of bunks, as far as the eye could see?

So, obviously, just a few tests hadn't been able to eliminate all those numbers, they had just been there to eliminate the majority of the numbers in each sector, before pitting them against one another.

As for where this was in the series when I had read it back on Earth, it was the exigence of the second volume, the event that had driven the plot.

Thus, with out beds close together, instead of in their original positions, we could easily make plans with each other, unlike the other sectors where they couldn't plan for tests beforehand, as they weren't able to take into account as much factors as us.

So, now, there was just a group of 8 people squashed together within a sea of hundreds of empty bunks surrounding them. (A/N: The three portal goers, and the 5 people that survived the onslaught {Ms. Krenshaw killing them} from number 1's team.)

And, I was currently thinking on the bunk below that of Number 1's.

"Why aren't you with the other two? They should be having the time of their lives by now, enjoying your hard earned prize." Asked Number 1, as he hung over the side of his bed to look at me.

Glancing at his upside down face, I answered, "I just didn't feel like it, and they have a task to do, so I wouldn't call it, "The time of their lives"."

"Oh, you figured it out?"

"Of course, who do you think is Number 1 in all the rankings right now?"

"..."

Of course, the other 4 people that had been on the losing team were listening in on our conversation, so they all froze when they heard the word, "all".

But, Number 1 and I didn't care for them, and he continued,

"Okay, I'm dying of curiosity here, just tell me, how'd you do it?"

Smiling, as I had expected this question, because, although Number 1 was naturally an arrogant person, he would always try to learn the most from those that were better than him.

"You see, I..."

---

So, some news here.

Just for the satisfaction, I'm going to be updating this novel twice a week now, just so that I can get in 100,000 words before WSA ends, as, well, it'd just be satisfying.

That's all, expect another chapter on Friday or Saturday.