"WOOOW!!!"
Mika shouts with excitement. Looking at all sorts of tools and gadgets on the table.
"Wha- what the hell is this…"
Meanwhile, Rio is speechless seeing any sort of high-grade melee weapon hanging on the wall.
"These potion is also high quality…"
Kiyo mumbled at the high-quality medicine in the box.
"Hmm, I appreciate that you all think highly of them. Take whichever you'll prefer. In exchange, you'll defeat Rudy in the next match."
Kochigawa Tennisuke, standing in the middle, represents a highly graded item in the room. But lastly, Ryuma on the other hand, was quite wary as he doesn't know what is his intention was for doing this.
"Come on, Ryuma, take which one you'd like."
"No, I'm fine… More importantly, I don't think you'd get anyone to trust you if you gave these things out of nowhere. It makes you highly suspicious."
"Oh, you think so? I'll write that down."
As soon as Ten said that, he immediately took out the small notebook and wrote it with a pen.
("This guy definitely has another motive…")
"Yeah, come to think of it, it's highly suspicious for you to do this. Tell me, what is your purpose?"
Rio stands beside Ryuma, who seems to be in the same mind as him.
"That's true~ Come on, my guy, you've got a personal grudge with that guy or something?"
Kiyo leaned on the table with a relaxing tone.
"Maybe, you'll charge us tenfold for every item we'll take, is that it? I've seen it somewhere, I'm only gonna take a few of it, but I hope you don't overcharge us."
"Mika, that's not 'few'. Are you tryna start a war or something?"
Rio said that, as he was looking, Mika had a bundle of Ten's tools in his embrace.
"*Sigh* Ten, I'm sorry to break it, but we'll be fine about Rudy."
("Yeah, I don't want to be indebted to some guy I just met. To put it that I don't know what kind of person he's like…")
"Oh, that's a shame… I guess you didn't want these then. So I guess I'm just gonna have to throw it out."
Ten bring the small box placed on the side of the table. He opened the box and showed its contents to Ryuma.
"T-This is…"
Ryuma's eyes widened open, and his body shuddered. And sweat profusely. Rio, who stood beside it, understood the situation as his eyes also widened.
"No… Don't do it, Ryuma! It's fake! It's gotta be! Why else would it be here of all places?!!"
"No… It's genuine, I can tell that it is genuine… But urgh, yes… I can't accept this at all cost-"
"Oops, it looks like the incinerator just activated all of a sudden. What a convenient timing, I don't have much use for this, so I'm just gonna burn it all down."
"YOU'RE THE DEVIL!!!"
"Wh-what do I do… If I didn't accept it… It's all going to be burned down…"
"Ryuma? Don't do it, Ryuma! Ryuma, you're doing it! Ryuma? Ryuma! RYUMAAAAA!!!-"
…
Three days later…
A pair of shoes and gloves, was the object Ten bribed Ryuma with. With gleaming eyes full of excitement, Ryuma still stares at the gloves he's wearing right now.
"I can't believe you got bribed that easily, I'm just forgetting how much of an easy guy you are…"
"But… How could I turn over this exclusive cosmetic of Dragon Boy?!! It was said there are only seven pairs of each of these… Hehehe~"
"You're sounding like a creepy old man right now."
Rio sighed in full disappointment.
After three days, the third round of deathmatch has begun. With team Ryuma's entry into the Deathless World.
"Okay, everybody. Do you guys test every gadget?" Rio asks the others. Kiyo is the first one to answer.
"Not everything, but I can make use of what I have right now."
"I have brought everything in my bag! I'm sure I already tested it once."
"I'm fine. Right, before anything, since you're already here before us, do you know how those two fight?"
"Hmm? Do you mean Rudy and Hutogi? About Rudy, I didn't really get to see much of how he fights, but about Hutogi... It's best if we avoid him at all costs."
"Hutogi Kamaru was it, the one who hid himself inside the robe. Interesting… How strong is that guy?"
"Hutogi is a swordsman. And a really strong and fast one. Once you're in his range, even if you try to block his attack with anything, it feels like he can cut through it, completely slip past through and cut your flesh in an instant. As for my record with him, 0 wins and 13 losses. Does that make your eyes open yet?"
A sweat flows through Ryuma as he listens to Rio. Deep in his mind, he really wants to have a match with him at least once. Ryuma reminisces about the moment of his fight with Hutogi.
("There's no doubt about it. That guy is strong, especially in close-range combat. The strongest guys I always fought, that's always been Rio, Mika, and Kiyo. But since they are the ones I always fought, I always think it's better to have a new pattern.")
In group of four is walking inside the Deathless World, and they stumble upon a huge building.
"What's this building?" The three stop walking except Mika. But Rio grabbed Mika by the collar.
"Stop, you idiot! They might be waiting behind that door right now!" Mika turned to Rio and opened the zip of the bag he was carrying.
"Of course, I know that Mr. Obvious. This is why I bring this with me." Mika took something out of the bag...
"Ta-da~ With this Thermal Vision, we can detect any enemy's heat with no problem!" With the Thermal Vision that has the same shape as the camera, Mika pointed it at Ryuma and Kiyo.
"Look, you can see their heat. What's more, Ten said you can even see them through the wall. Isn't that amazing?!" Mika rushed to the door and scanned the area around the door.
"The enemies… are not here, it's safe to go now." Mika tried to open the door, but as he tried to pull it..."
"BOOOM!!!" The black smoke covered the area, and its sound echoed in their ears.
"Fuck that was loud! Mika! You okay there?!" The black smoke started to disappear, and there was Mika who was covered in black.
"*Cough**Cough* I just bought these clothes. And it's already covered in smoke..."
"That's what happens when you're not a cautious dumbass." Rio lent Mika his hand to get him up.
"Even so, you're right. They're not here. It's weird, now is probably the best chance to ambush us." Ryuma walked past Rio to the broken steel door.
"They probably are waiting for us to ambush inside." The four went passed the door. What's waiting for them is a darkness gleaming in every corner.
"I can't see anything... Ah! That means it's time for that!" Mika searched through the bag.
"The Flashlight! We can use it to light up the darkness!" Mika presses the switch. And the darkness that they can't see became visible.
"Then... Let's go..." Ryuma walked in the front while the others walked behind.
A minute passes, and there is not yet a presence from Rudy's team. But Ryuma has a good grasp of what the purpose of this building is.
"Rio, look."
"Yes, mass-produced gadgets. Mostly it's a gun and armor. But from the looks of it, they're not the same type Rudy is using."
"So this place used to be a factory." Ryuma took one of the guns and examined it. As he examined it, Ryuma pulled the trigger to the wall.
"Hmm? It feels different. It's different from the gun from Herreson. It feels like the recoil is a bit smaller."
"I heard it before, The Twin Kingdom has invented a gun using mana. The mana is stored inside that magazine, and the energy output coming from this guy can at least penetrate the iron wall. That means this gun isn't using any bullets at all." Said Rio to Ryuma.
"Huh? So the world is progressing as we speak. But I wish they would invent something where people can acknowledge that information from far, you know?"
"Well, we'll wait at least one generation for that." At the same time, Mika shouts as he detects something from his Thermal vision.
"Found it! A heat detected from that direction!" Kiyo pointed the Flashlight in the direction Mika detected the heat.
"Second floor. They've probably already found us by now." Rio and Ryuma dash towards the enemy's location. At the same time, Mika noticed something...
"This is weird, this heat does not move at all. And I feel like this isn't what a human's temperature looks like." On the thermal screen, the heat became redder as the second went by. Kiyo realized it and dashed to Ryuma and Rio. Mika also follows through from behind
Ryuma and Rio have arrived at the said location. But they didn't find the enemy. Kiyo and Mika too just arrived and saw Ryuma and Rio staring at the barrel with fire on it. As they were staring at it silently, Rio was the first one to talk...
"Ryuma, I just remembered just now. I think it's when Velina talks about the first time she joined others on a hunting quest.'About Rudy... If I wanna specify him, it would be a strategist'."
"Which means…"
"This is a trap."
"Hahaha! That's indeed true!" The familiar voices can be heard. It was Rudy, behind the glass screen, called the monitor. Which neither of them was aware of.
"Ahh! He's hiding behind the box!" Before they know it, all the monitor is been turned on and are showing Rudy on the other side.
"I hear one of you is being cautious and has his guard up to not get found out. But that's useless. The moment you all step inside this building, I will have my eyes on you for 24 hours. Regardless of whether you're in a corner or inside the toilet!"
Ryuma recognized the same record device placed at the corner of the room, the same one he saw at his old school.
("Fuck, how did I did not realize this?")
"You may say what you want, but now, how are you supposed to reach all four of us?" Rudy who's crunching the food swallows it and speaks...
"Are you dumb? I have many ways to kill all of you. But it wouldn't be fun if I had to go out swinging right off the bat. Huuuh~ By the way, let's make a bet."
"What bet?"
"Say… If my team won this fight, you, you, you, and you, drop out of this school immediately. And if you happen to win… Hmm, I don't know, we'll give you some pocket money or something."
"Huh?! We don't have any reason to listen to your bullshit" Rio snapped, but Ryuma held him back
"Before that, Rudy, if I may ask… What is your purpose to get us out of this school?"
"Hm? Where is this coming from? Of course, it's because I hate y'all guts. A brat like you doesn't have a place near the wise and powerful. The Sage-"
"Your act is good Rudy, but you seem to be into the character."
The sentence from Ryuma immediately silenced Rudy.
"Let me guess, there's some sort of secret truth with this school, so you want us to get out of the way before all the things go down. So you want to stop us before we get closer to the truth, is that it?"
"... What makes you say that?"
"Because your tone is literally almost the same as my Brother. That piece of shit always gets on my nerves, but he's not a bad guy… No, no, he's not a bad guy, but he's still a piece of shit. I'm sorry, Rudy but we're not gonna just accept your terms, so you'll have to work it out if you want us to get the hell out of this school."
"I wasn't asking."
"If Rudy pushed one of the many buttons. The floor of the room explodes. Sending Ryuma and the group into the darkness.
"Have a safe travel~ Aah, meanwhile you're down there, make sure to not get beaten by my creation, please?" The four have fallen into the big hole, filled with darkness. What's besides the said darkness? Can Ryuma's team pass through this voided darkness?"